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Book 


PZ7 






COfc'YRIGHT DEPOSIT 










































Frontispiece 


f I’m Hit! Good Night! ”, 






































Grace Harlowe’s Overland 
Riders in the High 



By 

JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A.M. 


Author of The High School Girls Series, The College Girls Series, 
The Grace Harlowe Overseas Series, Grace Harlowe’s Over¬ 
land Riders on the Old Apache Trail, Grace Harlowe’s 
Overland Riders on the Great American Desert, Grace 
Harlowe’s Overland Riders Among the Kentucky 
Mountaineers, Grace Harlowe’s Overland 
Riders in the Great North Woods, 
etc., etc. 


Illustrated 


PHILADELPHIA 

HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY 










Copyrighted, 1923, by 
Howard E. Altemus 





« . 
i < * 



PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 


©C1A705072 

f 


CONTENTS 


page; 

Chapter I — Old Friends Get Together . n 

Overlanders plan for their summer’s vacation in 
the saddle. Emma Dean “dotes on mysteries.” 
Hippy Wingate gets a hard blow. Stacy amazes 
his new friends by his dramatic entrance. Shots 
and yells startle The Overland Riders. 

Chapter II — An Interrupted Sleep. 22 

The traveling salesman entertains his fellow pas¬ 
sengers with tales of wrecks and hold-ups. Chunky 
makes the passengers laugh. Emma Dean has an 
attack of “nerves.” Sheriff Ford is suspicious. The 
“Red Limited” comes to a jolting stop. “Robbers!” 
screams a woman. 

Chapter III — The Hold-up of the Red Limited . . 30 

An ominous silence settles over the transcontinental 
express. The sheriff calls for volunteers to drive 
off the train bandits. Overland girls offer their 
services. The treasure car cut off. Stacy, in his 
pajamas, joins the defenders. 

Chapter IV — In a Lively Skirmish. 39 

“Dynamite!” exclaims Sheriff Ford. Defenders 
give battle. Stacy Brown shoots and talks. Hippy 
goes on a desperate mission. Bandit guards are 
outwitted. Lieutenant Wingate caught in a tight 
place. “I know you!” yells the Overland Rider. 

5 




6 


CONTENTS 


Chapter V — On the Trail of the Missing .... 
Sheriff Ford starts a search for Lieutenant Wingate. 
A clue at last. “Captured by the bandits! ” exclaims 
Tom Gray. Chunky helps himself to a plum pud¬ 
ding. “Suffering cats! You’re it! ” 


Chapter VI — Chunky Meets the Bandits. 

The fat boy stampedes the outlaws’ horses. “Oh, 
wow! I’ve lost my biscuit.” A pony that knew the 
way. “I suppose I emptied twelve saddles,” boasts 
Stacy. Shots arouse the sheriff’s camp. “Lie low, 
everybody! ” 


Chapter VII — Bandits Catch a Tartar. 

Lieutenant Wingate, unconscious, is carried away 
on a pony’s back. A cruel blow. A pin-prick saves 
the day. The escape of the Overland captive. “Cease 
firing! It’s Hippy! ” The traveling salesman in 
a new role. 


Chapter VIII — Headed for the High Country . . 
Woo Smith joins the Overland outfit. Stacy de¬ 
clares that his pony can climb a tree. “I want food! ” 
is the fat boy’s plaint. The Overlanders are intro¬ 
duced to a “kyack.” Packs are “thrown” andjthe 
journey to the Sierras is begun. 


Chapter IX — Their Slumbers Disturbed. 

“All aboard for the High Sierras!” The Chinaman 
proves to be a rare find. “You leave it to Smith,” 
advises Hippy. Stories of rattlesnakes in campers’ 
blankets set the Overland girls’ nerves on edge. 
Woo savvies “transmigration.” 




CONTENTS 


7 


PAGE 

Chapter X— “Boots and Saddles”.102 

The Overland camp in an uproar. “Snakes! Oh, 
wow!” howls the fat boy. “Me savvy somebody 
pull queue,” wails Woo Smith. The dark mystery 
is finally solved. Stacy Brown proves to be an un¬ 
willing “wrangler.” 

Chapter XI — Ponies Get a Bad Fright. 112 

Hippy uses a pea-shooter with disastrous results. 

The fat boy awakens in a wild rose bush. Suspicion 
becomes a certainty. Overlanders make a perilous 
descent. “The ponies are stampeding! ” shouts 
Lieutenant Wingate. 

Chapter XII — Amid the Giant Sequoias. . .P. . . 125 

“Look! Oh, look,” cries Emma Dean. Lieutenant 
Wingate shoots a cinnamon bear. “ Uncle Hippy never 
misses what he hits.” Stopped by a rattler. Tom 
Gray lost in the great forest. Watched over by 
trees centuries old. 

Chapter XIII — The Camp at the “Lazy J” . . . . 135 

A surprise in the High Sierras. Overland Riders en¬ 
tertained at a mountain ranch. Stacy tries to shoe 
a horse. The white mare gets into action. Warned 
against the High Country. “Keep away from the 
‘ Crazy Lake ’ section,” advises the foreman. 

Chapter XIV — Woo’s Eyes Are Keen .146 

The Chinaman sights a “buck in lelet.” Hippy 
misses a “sure shot.” “Why don’t you use a pea¬ 
shooter?” jeers Stacy. A rifle that had been tampered 
with. “I — I just wanted to get even with you.” 

A shot that reached^the mark. 






8 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Chapter XV — Following the Aerial Trail .... 156 

The Overland Riders enjoy a venison dinner. Elfreda 
Briggs is reminded of Coney Island. Crossing a per¬ 
ilous mountain ridge. Emma Dean is afraid and 

doesn’t care who knows it. The white mare meets 

* 

with sudden disaster. 


Chapter XVI — Going to Bed in the Clouds. . . . 162 

Kitty gives her masters a perilous job. Stacy offers 
to get a derrick. A scene to be remembered. Getting 
up in the world. Tom Gray makes up the Over- 
landers’ beds with a pick. Stacy objects to being 
buried so soon after supper. 

Chapter XVII — In the Land of Pink Snows. . . . 169 

Woo loses a “piecee kettle” over the brink. The 
campfire disappears in the clouds. Camping in the 
valley of the blue lupines. A trail that was difficult to 
find. Elfreda becomes suddenly light-headed. 


Chapter XVIII — At the “Top of the World” . . 176 

The mystery of the “pink snows” is finally solved by 
Tom. A snowball battle above the clouds. On the 
peak of the High Sierras. The Overland Riders go to 
sleep in a snowbank. “Girls, this is an ideal summer 
resort.” 


Chapter XIX — Bowling in Nature’s Alley .... 182 

Hippy Wingate gives his companions a delightful 
surprise. The Overlanders withdraw their threat to 
throw him off the mountain. A mysterious lake is 
discovered. *Emma Dean scores a hit. Bullets stop 
the highest bowling game on record. 


CONTENTS 


9 


PAGE 

Chapter XX — Lead and Mystery in the Air . . . 193 

Overland Riders suddenly find themselves under 
fire. Stacy “creeps” to safety. “Get up and walk, 
you tenderfoot! ” The Aerial Lake lives up to its 
reputation. Woo Smith savvies trouble. “Dis¬ 
covered! ” exclaims Hippy. 

Chapter XXI — The Face in the Waters .201 

The guide informs the Overlanders that a woman has 
been spjdng on the camp. Stacy feels like a snow¬ 
bird. Prowlers leave a trail. Lieutenant Wingate 
meets with an unpleasant surprise. The pool of the 
mountain trout and what Grace Harlowe saw there. 

Chapter XXII — The Mystery of Aerial Lake ... 210 

Grace Harlowe flees from a hideous face. The Over¬ 
land girls are eager to solve the mountain mystery. 

Stacy Brown discovers an “ark” and goes out for a 
sail. The fat boy mysteriously missing. Woo con¬ 
sults the skies. The lost boy returns with an appetite. 

Chapter XXIII — The Lair of the Bad Men . . . 222 

Chunky laughs at his companions’ distress. Lieuten¬ 
ant Wingate invites his nephew out for a “paddle.” 

Stacy makes an important discovery. Plunder found 
in the bandits’ cave. The log that was chained down. 
Bullets drive the Overlanders from their quest. 

Chapter XXIV — Making a Last Stand .234 

The Overland Riders are fired on by the mountain 
ruffians. Imprisoned by dynamite in the robbers’ 
cave. A battle that came to a sudden end. Sheriff 
Ford to the rescue. Mother Jones’ career is ended. 

v 












I 






1 
















I 







GRACE HARLOWE’S 
OVERLAND RIDERS IN 
THE HIGH SIERRAS 


CHAPTER I 

OLD FRIENDS GET TOGETHER 

«IT 7 HO is this Stacy Brown that you 

girls are speaking of? " questioned 
* * Emma Dean as the Overland girls 

sat down to dinner in Grace Harlowe's hospitable 
Haven Home. 

“ He is my Hippy's nephew/' Nora Wingate 
informed her. “ You will like ‘ Chunky,' as he is 
known to his friends, and I promise you that he 
will keep this outfit from getting lonely," added 
Nora laughingly. 

“ He was one of the members of the Pony 
Rider Boys' outfit," volunteered Grace. “ You 
know we have heard of them several times on our 
journeyings. They used to go out in search of 
adventure every summer, so Stacy is a seasoned 

ll 



12 


GRACE HARLOWE 


campaigner. We shall need him where we are 
going, too.” 

“ Ry the way, where are we going, Grace? ” 
spoke up Elfreda Briggs. “ I believe our destina¬ 
tion is to be in the nature of a surprise — a 
mystery, as it were.” 

“ I just dote on mysteries,” bubbled Emma. 
“ Of course I could have learned all about it had 
I not been too conscientious.” 

“ That is characteristic of your sex,” replied 
Hippy Wingate soberly. “ May I ask you how 
you could have found out? ” 

“ I thank you for the compliment, and regret 
exceedingly that I cannot return the compliment 
in kind. How could I have found out? Why, by 
the transmigration of thought.” 

“ The what? ” cried Elfreda laughingly. “ Is 
this some new freak, Emma Dean? ” 

“ It may be new' with me, but the principle 
is as old as the ages. I belong to the Society for 
the Promotion of Thought Transmigration. Our 
great and Most Worthy Master lives in Benares, 
India, where numbers of the faithful journey for 
instruction and inspiration once every two years.” 

“ Do you mean to say that you belong to that 
fool outfit? ” wondered Hippy. 

“ I am happy to say that I do. I joined last 
winter, and, novice that I am, I have realized 
some remarkable results,” replied Emma. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


13 


“Nora, we ought to take her to a specialist 
before we start on our journey. It won’t do to 
have a crazy person with us. She might get us 
into no end of trouble,” suggested Hippy. 

“Humph! I’d much prefer to be crazy than 
to have a bungalow head,” retorted Emma scorn¬ 
fully. 

“ A bungalow head? ” exclaimed the girls. 

“ Yes. A bungalow has no upper story, you 
know.” 

“ Ouch! ” cried Hippy Wingate, clapping both 
hands to his head. “ Now that our Sage of India 
has spoken, suppose Grace and Tom enlighten 
us as to where we are going this summer. In view 
of the fact that this is my treat — that I have 
offered to pay the expenses of the Overland Riders 
on this journey — it might not be inappropriate 
for me to inquire where we are going. Elfreda’s 
question in that direction is as yet unanswered.” 

Tom Gray nodded to his wife. 

“ I had intended to wait until Stacy Brown 
arrived, but as he is not a member of our little 
organization, there is no reason why our business 
matters should be discussed with him,” said Grace. 
“ Dear friends, we are going to the High Sierras, 
the great snow-clad peaks of the far west. Ad¬ 
venture, hardship and health are awaiting us 
there. It will be a long journey before we reach 
the beginning of our real objective, but I believe 


14 


GRACE HARLOWE 


you folks will agree with me that the preliminary 
journey is well worth while.” 

“ You say that Hippy is paying the bills?” 
interjected Emma. 

“ He has so said. However, Tom will not have 
it that way, so we have agreed that Tom and 
Hippy shall share equally in the expense of the 
journey. Both feel quite rich now since they 
cleaned up on their big lumber deal in the North 
Woods,” replied Grace. 

Elfreda said that such an arrangement would 
not please her at all, declaring that she would 
pay her own expenses. 

“ You have nothing to say about it,” laughed 
Tom. “ The subject is closed. So far as our 
having Stacy Brown as our guest, is concerned, 
you all agreed to that when Grace wrote to you 
about his wish to join us on our summer outing. 
Are vou still of the same mind? ” 

“Yes,” answered the girls in chorus. 

“ What about a guide? Is that arranged for? ” 
asked Miss Briggs. 

“ Not yet,' answered Grace. “ We thought we 
would leave that until we reached our destina¬ 
tion. Oh, girls, I have some of the loveliest trips 
in mind for several seasons ahead, but I’m not 
going to tell you a word about them now. In the 
meantime, anyone that has a suggestion to offer 
will please offer it.” 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


15 


“ I have no suggestions to offer, but I should 
like to ask further light on this new dope that 
Emma Dean has sprung on us. What is it, and 
how does it work? ” asked Hippy. 

“ If you won’t make fun of me I’ll tell you,” 
replied Emma. “ The transmigration of thought 
is ‘ tuning-in ’ one’s mind to receive messages 
from the mind of another person, just as a wire¬ 
less operator ‘ tunes-in ’ his instrument to catch 
the message being sent by another operator far 
away. In other words, persons so attuned to each 
other may converse, read each other’s thoughts 
and hold communion, even though separated by 
thousands of miles of sea or land or both.” 

“ Marvelous! ” breathed Hippy. “ For in¬ 
stance, please tune-in your mind and tell me what 
I am thinking about. Let’s see you do that, if 
you can,” he declared triumphantly. 

“ Our minds never could be in perfect accord, 
Theophilus Wingate. We are as far apart as the 
poles, but our range being so short, I can easily 
tell you what you are thinking about. Not being 
a deep thinker, you are as transparent as a piece 
of clear crystal.” 

“ Emma, don’t you say that about my Hippy,” 
protested Nora indignantly. “ My Hippy has a 
mind as big as his heart, and — ” 

“ You are thinking,” interjected Emma gravely, 
“ what a shallow little butterfly I am, but what 


16 


GRACE HARLOWE 


you do not know is that that thought is merely 
the reflection of your own mentality. You are, 
in other words, seeing yourself as others see you, 
Hippy Wingate.” 

A peal of laughter from the Overland girls 
greeted Emma’s retort. Hippy flushed, then 
joined in the laughter. 

“ This is so sudden,” he murmured. “ I’ll tell 
you what you do. Wait until Stacy arrives, then 
you just practice your transmigration stuff on 
him. Stacy will make a wonderful subject for 
you. He is so temperamental, so spiritual, that I 
am positive you and he will get wonderful re¬ 
sults.” Hippy winked at Nora as he said it. 

None of the others had ever seen Stacy Brown, 
so they had not the least idea what was in store 
for them from the comedian of the Pony Rider 
Boys’ outfit. Stacy was an old campaigner, how¬ 
ever, and Hippy knew that he would prove a 
valuable member of their party on the ride into 
the High Sierras. Stacy knew the open, and with 
his companions had experienced many exciting 
adventures in the wilder parts of the country. The 
Overland Riders, too, had had their full share of 
thrilling adventure, first as members of the Over- 
ton College Unit in France during the great war, 
where Hippy Wingate had won honors as a fight¬ 
ing air pilot, and Tom Gray at the front as a 
captain of engineers. However, they had a new 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


17 


phase of excitement to experience in “ Chunky ” 
Brown, and the first of those experiences was near 
at hand. 

A shot suddenly broke the summer stillness of 
Haven Home, a shot that brought the Overland 
Riders to their feet. 

“Bang, bang, bang!” 

“Merciful Heaven! Are we attacked? ” cried 
Elfreda Briggs. 

“Whoop! Yeo-o-o-o-o-w! ” 

Three more shots were fired, followed by a suc¬ 
cession of startling whoops and yells. 

“What does it mean? I’m afraid!” cried 
Emma. 

The Overlanders ran out of the dining room to 
the veranda, but no one was in sight. 

“ Chunky has arrived. Don’t be afraid, girls,” 
laughed Hippy Wingate. “ He is on the other 
side of the house. There he comes! ” 

A short, fat young fellow, riding a gray bronco 
and perched high on his saddle, at this juncture 
dashed around the end of the house, firing two 
shots into the air as he passed the amazed group. 
Just as he swept past, his sombrero fell off, but 
Chunky did not stop. In a minute or two he was 
back, and, making a graceful dip from the saddle, 
reached down for the hat. As he did so, the pony 
swerved and Stacy Brown landed on the grass of 
Haven Home, flopped over on his back, and 


2 - Grace Harlowe in the High Sierras 



18 


GRACE HARLOWE 


after a few dazed seconds got up and shook 
himself. 

Stacy made a low bow to the spectators 
gathered on the veranda. 

a Oh, my dear, my dear! Are you hurt?” 
begged Nora, running to him. 

“ Hurt? Of course not. I always fall off before 
dinner. It puts a keen edge on my appetite. 
Hulloa, folks! Glad to meet ye. Hey, Bismarck! 
Come here,” he ordered. 

His dusty gray pony trotted to him and nosed 
Stacy’s cheek affectionately. 

“ Got anything loose around the house? I’m 
half starved,” urged Chunky. “ Uncle Hip, intro¬ 
duce me to these beautiful young ladies. I’ve 
heard of you folks, and so has Bismarck. You’ll 
find him right friendly, especially the front end 
of him, but I shouldn’t advise you to get too 
close to the tail end. He is very light there. Let 
him browse in the yard while I feed the inner 
man.” 

“ Indeed not,” objected Grace. “ I am not 
going to have my flowers trampled down after all 
my hard work on them this spring. Tom, please 
lead Stacy’s pony around to the stables. I will 
put something on the table for you at once, Stacy. 
Come right in. We were just finishing dinner 
when you arrived so violently. Oh! Pardon me. 
You haven’t yet been introduced to the girls.” 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


19 


“ Thanks! ” bowed Stacy. “ Thanks for the in¬ 
vitation, but come to think of it don’t introduce 
me until after dinner. I never like to meet 
strangers on an empty stomach.” 

“ This is Miss Elfreda Briggs, a rising young 
lawyeress, and here is the life of our Overland 
party, Miss Emma Dean. We address each other 
by our first names, so you may call her Emma. 
Come now, Stacy.” 

“ You’re a funny fellow, aren’t you? ” said 
Emma, surveying the newcomer curiously as they 
walked towards the house. 

“ Then we are a pair of ’em, eh? ” chuckled the 
fat boy. 

“ I am not a boy, thank my lucky stars and all 
the saints,” objected Emma. “ I’ll have you 
understand that, sir.” 

“ Let the dove of peace rest over your touchy 
spirit, Emma,” laughed Grace chidingly. 

“ It isn’t a dove. It’s a crow,” corrected 
Chunky. “ A thousand pardons, Emma dear. 
I—” 

“ I’m not your dear,” answered Emma with 
considerable heat. 

“ Yes, you are, but you don’t know it. To 
realize it you will have to emerge from the un¬ 
conscious state in which you now so sweetly re¬ 
pose,” teased Stacy, amid the laughter of the 
others. 


20 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ I should prefer to be unconscious all the 
time,” flung back Emma. 

“Ah! The food does smell good. Food always 
has a strange effect on me, and really, I haven’t 
smelled any in almost a thousand years — not 
since breakfast this morning. By the way, where 
do we go and when do we start? ” 

“ To the Sierras,” answered Tom Gray. “ How 
are you, Chunky? ” he added, extending a hand. 

“ Starved. How’s yourself? ” 

“ I think after we go back to the dining room 
and after I have my dessert that I shall feel fit 
as a fiddle,” replied Tom. “ To answer the rest 
of your question, we expect to start tomorrow 
forenoon. The ponies will be shipped in a car 
that is now on the siding at Oakdale.” 

“ Girls, what do you think of my nephew? ” 
cried Hippy jovially, as they again seated them¬ 
selves at the table. 

“ So far as I am concerned, I think that he is 
another of those bungalow fellows just like your¬ 
self, Hippy,” answered Emma. “ Mr. Brown, may 
I ask if you ever have had any experience with 
mental transmigration?” she asked, turning to 
Chunky. 

Chunky, his mouth full of food, surveyed her 
solemnly. 

“ Uh-huh! ” he replied thickly. “ I met one 
of those animals once in the Rocky Mountains. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


21 


You see it was this way. We had been riding far 
into the night to find a suitable camping place, 
when we were suddenly halted by a savage growl 
just ahead of us. I went on ahead, with my 
trusty rifle ready, to slay the beast whatever it 
might be. Suddenly I saw him. He was the most 
terrible looking object that I’ve ever come up 
with in all my mountain experience. I threw up 
my rifle and shot the beast dead in his tracks.” 

“Wonderful!” breathed Emma. “Rut what 
has that to do with mental transmigration? ” 

“ I’m coming to that. It is wonderful — I mean 
it was. Will you believe it, that terrible beast 
came to life. Yes, sir, he rose right up and made 
for us. My pony bolted, and I fell off — just as 
I ordinarily do before meal time. My feet at the 
moment chanced to be out of the stirrups and I 
fell off. Well, I might have been killed — I surely 
would have been killed, but I wasn’t, just because 
of that stunt that you mentioned. I transmi¬ 
grated myself out of that vicinity with a speed 
that left that terrible object so far behind that 
he just lay down and died again,” finished Stacy 
Brown solemnly, amid shouts of laughter, in 
which all but Emma Dean joined. 

Stacy gave her a quick sidelong glance, and 
Hippy Wingate, observing the look, knew that war 
had been declared between Stacy Brown and 
Emma Dean. 


22 


GRACE HARLOWE 


CHAPTER II 

AN INTERRUPTED SLEEP 

44 IP! IGHT at this point/’ said the traveling 
salesman impressively, “ a train left 
the track and plunged into that ravine 
down there.” 

“ Any loss of life? ” questioned Tom Gray. 

“ A great many. I was in that wreck myself. 
I was shaken up a bit, that’s all. You see I know 
how to take care of myself. We commercial 
travelers have to or we should soon be out of 
business. Nearly the whole train went into that 
ravine, and the car in which I was riding stood on 
end. I clung to the air-brake cord and thus was 
miraculously saved.” 

“ Humph! ” muttered Stacy, hunching his fat 
shoulders forward. “ You don’t look to be light 
enough to perch on an air-brake cord.” 

The Overland girls glanced amusedly at 
Chunky and the traveling salesman. The entire 
party was enjoying the late afternoon mountain 
air from the rear platform of the observation 
car on the transcontinental train known as the 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


23 


Red Limited. Just inside the door sat other pas¬ 
sengers; who had been enjoying the frequent 
passages-at-arms between Stacy Brown and 
Emma Dean. The train had been rumbling over 
bridges and lurching through narrow cuts, afford¬ 
ing the passengers brief views of a swiftly moving 
scenic panorama of interest and attractiveness. 

“ As I was saying, the rope, in all probability, 
saved my life, as I was the only person in the 
car that came out alive,” continued the travel¬ 
ing salesman. “ I’m in ladies’ fine shoes, you 
know.” 

Stacy and Emma regarded the speaker’s large 
feet, glanced at each other and grinned. 

“ I’ll bet you couldn’t transmigrate them,” 
whispered the fat boy. 

Emma elevated her nose, but made no reply 
to the trivial remark. 

“ I mean that I am selling ladies’ fine shoes, 
young man,” added the salesman, he having ob¬ 
served the fat boy’s grin. “ My card.” He passed 
business cards to those nearest to him, and from 
them the Overlanders learned that he was William 
Sylvester Holmes, traveling for a Denver shoe 
firm. “ My trade call me ' Bill,’ ” he explained. 

“Hello, Bill! ” muttered Hippy, nudging Nora. 

“ May I ask what car you were in? ” questioned 
a tall, bronzed passenger in a mild, apologetic 
voice. 


24 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ The same as this one.” 

“ Hm-m-m! That’s odd. I do not recall 
having seen you. However, I was in the other end 
of the car, which perhaps accounts for it,” said 
the stranger in a more humble voice. 

William Sylvester flushed. Instead of being 
overcome, however, he shifted his conversation to 
another train wreck that he said had occurred 
a few miles further on at a place called Summit. 

The faces of the Overland Riders expanded into 
discreet smiles at the mild way in wdiich the tall 
man had rebuked the loquacious traveler. Grace 
and Elfreda, in particular, found themselves much 
interested in this big man. Grace asked a fellow 
passenger w T ho the man was, and learned that he 
w r as Rill Ford, for some years sheriff of Sonora 
County. Ford had been observing the traveling 
salesman through mild blue eyes in which there 
appeared an expression of more than casual 
interest. 

“ It was that Summit wreck that nearly did me 
up,” resumed Holmes. “We went over an em¬ 
bankment there. Being in a berth in a sleeping 
car I was unable to grab hold of anything. The 
car played football with me, but I came off with 
nothing more serious than a broken arm. Oh, I 
have had my experiences! Were you in that 
wreck, too? ” he asked, turning quickly to the 
sheriff. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


25 


“ Never heard of it,” answered Ford carelessly. 

“ All that saved us was the fact that the cars 
were made of steel. We’ll pass Summit within 
the hour, and I’ll show you where we went off 
the rails that time.” 

“ Tell us about something that happened when 
the train didn’t leave the rails,” urged Stacy. 

“ With pleasure. I remember, some two years 
ago — it was this very train, I do believe — when 
a party of bandits held up a train on this line. 
That occurred between Summit and Gardner. 
They uncoupled the express car and, after com¬ 
pelling the engineer to haul it up the track a short 
distance, dynamited the car and robbed it of the 
treasure it was carrying.” 

“ They’ve been cutting up that same kind of 
caper quite lately,” nodded the sheriff. 

“ Di—id they rob the passengers? ” stammered 
Emma Dean. 

“ In some of the cars, yes. In my car they did 
not. I held them off with my revolver. I —” 

“ That was very careless of you. Why, sir, 
you might have shot yourself,” cried Stacy. 

Mr. Holmes gave the fat boy a withering glance 
and resumed his story. 

“ After my display of courage the other pas¬ 
sengers got brave, and with their assistance I 
drove the bandits off. However, I should not 
advise it. For the average person, the safe course 


26 


GRACE HARLOWE 


is to sit still and take his medicine. Gentlemen, 
never offer resistance when a gang of bandits 
orders you to put up your hands, but put them 
up as fast as you can and let them stay put,” 
he added, fixing his gaze on Tom Gray who smiled 
and nodded. 

“ Yes, sir,” agreed Chunky. “ That’s the way 
I always do.” 

“Were you ever held up?” questioned the 
salesman. 

“ Many times. I put up my hands too, but 
there was a gun in both of ’em,” answered Stacy 
amid much laughter. 

At this juncture a passenger asked the story¬ 
teller to tell them more about the hold-up, which 
he did without urging. 

“ The train in question was carrying a treasure, 
just as this one no doubt is. The bandits had 
obtained information of this fact from a con¬ 
federate. They were right on the job when the 
train came along. After stopping the train they 
placed men at the car door to take up a collection 
from the passengers. All submitted tamely, as 
they should have done, except in the car where 
I was, and — we are approaching Summit now. 
From that point we go down grade for twenty 
miles or so, then we begin to climb again. We 
stop at Summit. 

“ Isn’t it terrible, all that banditry. I’m 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


27 


afraid,” shivered Emma when a little later the 
party had gone to the dining car for supper. 

“ For one who can transmigrate as well as you 
can, there should be no fear,” suggested Hippy. 
“ Just transmigrate the bandits to some other 
train.” 

“ I think we should transmigrate ourselves in 
the event of such a thing occurring,” vouchsafed 
Elfreda Briggs. 

Sheriff Ford came into the dining car shortly 
after the train had left Summit, and nodded at 
the party in a friendly fashion. 

“ What has become of our story-telling friend, 
sir? ” asked Grace. 

“ I saw him go into the smoking car ahead as 
the train was leaving Summit. He sent two tele¬ 
grams before leaving. This shoe business requires 
a lot of telegraphing, it appears,” added the 
sheriff dryly. 

“ How do you know it was about shoe busi¬ 
ness? ” demanded Stacy. 

“ Because I happened to see the last telegram.” 

Tom Gray eyed the sheriff inquiringly, but the 
mild blue eyes of Mr. Ford conveyed nothing to 
him. 

After a pleasant evening, during which they 
saw no more of the traveling salesman, the 
Overland party retired to their berths for sleep. 
Forward, near the express car, rode the Over- 


28 


GRACE HARLOWE 


landers’ ponies in as much comfort as is possible 
to provide for animals en route. At every stop 
during the day one of the men of the party had 
run forward to look over the car of “ stock/’ as 
the riders called their saddle animals. Now, how¬ 
ever, all were too soundly asleep to think of 
ponies, and above the rumble of the train might 
be heard the rasping snores of Stacy Brown and 
Hippy Wingate. 

It was shortly after one o’clock in the morning 
when many of the sleepers were awakened by a 
sudden disconcerting jolt caused by an abrupt 
application of the air brakes. The train slowly 
settled down to a slow crawl, the hiss of the air 
from the brakes being plainly audible to those 
who had been awakened. 

The train stopped. Nothing of an alarming 
nature seemed to have occurred, so the nervous 
passengers again settled down into their blankets, 
for the night air was chill and penetrating. 
Others lay awake, but there was nothing to hear 
except the snores which continued without 
interruption. 

A few moments of this and then a subdued 
murmur of voices was heard just ahead of the 
Overlanders’ car. A brief period of silence fol¬ 
lowed the murmur, then a man’s voice, agitated 
and full of alarm, was raised so high that almost 
every person in the car was awake on the instant. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


29 


“ What is it? ” cried a woman’s voice from be¬ 
hind berth curtains. 

“ We’re held up! The train is held up! ” cried 
the man. 

“Robbers! Robbers!” screamed the woman 
who had asked the question; and a chorus of 
frightened voices took up the refrain. 


30 


GRACE HARLOWE 


CHAPTER III 

THE HOLD-UP OF THE RED LIMITED 

6 4 rfl AKE it easy! Don’t lose your heads. 

We are safe for the moment/’ urged 
a voice that sounded like Sheriff 
Ford’s. Whoever it was, his words brought a 
measure of quiet to the excited passengers who 
were shivering in the aisle in scant attire. 

The passengers then sought their berths again 
and began dressing, for there would be no more 
sleep for them that night. Outside of the car 
there was not the slightest indication that any¬ 
thing out of the ordinary was occurring. An 
ominous stillness enshrouded the scene. Some 
one, more curious than the rest, stepped to the 
front platform of the sleeping car and, opening the 
vestibule door, looked out. The Overlanders 
learned later that it was Mr. Ford. 

A rifle shot roared out, whereupon the sheriff 
prudently stepped back and closed the door. 
Several smothered screams were heard, and then 
silence once more settled over the car. 

Up to the present time not a word had been 



IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


31 


heard from the Overland Riders. The curtains 
of their berths hung motionless, and Stacy 
Brown’s snores were louder than ever. Perhaps 
they w T ere all asleep, but how that could be pos¬ 
sible in the circumstances it would be difficult to 
understand. 

The voice of Sheriff Ford once more focused 
the attention of the passengers on him. 

“ Men,” he said, addressing the passengers from 
one end of the car, “ this train is being held up, 
but it does not look as if the passengers will be 
disturbed. If they are not, it means that the 
bandits are after the express car, in which, as I 
happen to know, there is a large amount of gold 
for shipment to the Pacific Coast for export. I 
am an officer of the law. The fact that I am not 
in my own county is sufficient excuse for my 
sitting down and letting the bandits have their 
own way, but I’m not that kind of a critter. I’m 
going out to take a hand in this affair, and I ask 
all the men in this car, who have weapons, to join 
me. Provided we get help from the other cars of 
the train, we can, perhaps, drive the robbers off. 
How many of you men are with me? ” 

Two passengers stepped out from their berths. 
The curtains of the berths occupied by Lieutenant 
Theophilus Wingate and Captain Tom Gray were 
thrust aside, the curtain hooks rattling on the rods 
overhead, and they were revealed clad in shirts, 


32 


GRACE HARLOWE 


trousers and boots, each with a revolver strapped 
on, sitting quietly on the edge of his berth. 

“ Isn't there another man in this car? ” ques¬ 
tioned Ford sarcastically. 

At this juncture Grace Harlowe, Elfreda Briggs, 
Nora Wingate and Emma Dean stepped out into 
the aisle, each wearing a revolver at her side, 
and Emma very pale and shaking in the chill air. 

“ We are not men, but we are ready to do what¬ 
ever you wish, Mr. Ford," announced Grace. 

Ford smiled and nodded. 

“ I thought so," he said. “ This appears to be 
about all we can depend upon. As for you young 
women, my hat is off to you, but this is no job 
for women. It's a man’s job. What you can do, 
however, is to mount guard over this car and 
protect the other women. Can you all shoot? " 

Grace said they could. 

“ Very well. Guard the vestibules, but in no 
circumstances open the vestibule door. The 
other passengers will please remain in their berths 
to avoid the possibility of being shot, and you 
young women will be careful that you do not 
shoot the train crew. Challenge first, then shoot, 
if you are not positive as to who any person is. 
Have you men ammunition? " 

“ Yes," answered Hippy. “ Lead us to it. We 
haven’t had any action in so long that we are 
going stale." 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


33 


“ We will go out by the rear door,” announced 
the sheriff. “ Please do not use your weapons 
until you are ordered to do so. The most we can 
hope to accomplish is to drive the bandits off — 
make them think they are attacked by a posse. 
There isn’t much chance of our being able to 
capture the gang or any of them, much as I should 
like to do so. Yet I’m going to try to get hold 
of at least one. All ready! ” 

“ Be careful, Hippy darling,” begged Nora as 
the little party moved towards the rear of the car. 

“ You watch my smoke,” chuckled Hippy. 

“ Good luck,” smiled Grace, waving a kiss to 
Tom as he turned to nod in return for her parting 
words. 

Ford stepped out into the rear vestibule and 
peered through the window into the darkness. 

“ I’ll go first,” he said. “ You follow when I 
give the signal. Not a word from any of you. 
Wait! ” Lifting the trap-door in the vestibule 
floor, the sheriff let himself down on the steps, 
then cautiously stood up on the outside, revolver 
in hand for use in case of trouble. 

“ Come out! ” he commanded in a low voice. 
“ There appears to be no one here. There goes the 
express car! ” he added as a slight jolt of the train 
was heard. “ They’ve cut out that car and are 
going to pull it up the track a piece and force it 
open. We’ll have to hurry.” 

■ S - Grace Harlowe in the High Sierras 


34 


GRACE HARLOWE 


Ford started on a run, the others falling in 
behind him. 

Up to this time no one had given Stacy Brown 
a thought, but as the party was leaving the sleeper 
something awakened him. Then Stacy heard 
someone say, “ robbers! ” The fat boy tumbled 
out into the aisle in his pajamas. 

“ Wha—what is it? ” he demanded sleepily. 

“ The train is held up,” answered Grace. 

“Oh! Wow!” 

“ Yes, and Tom, Hippy and Mr. Ford, with two 
other passengers, have just gone out by the rear 
door to see what they can do to help us out,” 
announced Miss Briggs. “ You are a fine brave 
fellow to sleep through all this uproar.” 

“ They have gone to capture the bandit outfit 
and get their heads shot off for their pains,” jeered 
the voice of a male passenger from the forward 
end of the car. 

“ You’re a brave man, aren’t you? ” chided 
Emma, directing her remark at Stacy. 

The fat boy blinked sleepily, then all of a 
sudden he woke up to a fuller realization of the 
situation. Emma’s remark had passed unnoticed, 
but the taunt of the cowardly passenger had sent 
the blood pounding to Stacy’s temples. The boy 
snatched his revolver from his grip and buckled on 
the holster, starting for the rear door at a run. 

“ We can’t all be heroes,” he flung back at the 



IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


35 


passenger who had jeered at the Overlanders. 
“ Some of us are born cowards with a stripe of 
yellow a yard wide through us. Go to sleep, 
children! I’ll bag the lot of ’em and fetch ’em 
back for you to look at.” 

Stacy fell through the opening in the platform, 
the trap-door still being open. In the fall, he 
bumped all the way from the platform to the 
ground, where he fetched up heavily in a sitting 
posture. 

“ Hey, you fellows! Where are you? Wait for 
me, I’m on the way,” he bellowed. “ I’ve got the 
medicine with me. Sing out where you are.” 

The fat boy started to run along the side of the 
train. He could not see his companions, but he 
was positive that they could not be far in advance 
of him. 

“ W-a-i-t! ” he shouted. 

“ Who’s that? ” demanded Ford sharply. 

“ It sounds like Brown of our party,” laughed 
Hippy. 

“ For goodness sake, go back and stop his noise 
or we’ll have the robbers down on us,” urged Ford. 
“ Run for it! ” 

Hippy started back at a brisk trot, on the alert 
for the presence of bandit sentries. He nearly 
collided with Stacy, and, knowing that the fat boy 
was impulsive, Hippy feared that Stacy might 
take him for a train robber and shoot, so he 


36 


GRACE HARLOWE 


dropped down the instant he discovered his com¬ 
panion. 

“ Stop that noise! Do you want to get hurt? ” 
demanded Hippy sternly. 

“ Course I don’t. I want to hurt a robber. 
Where are they? ” 

“ You will find out soon enough if you don’t 
keep quiet.” 

“ That’s what I’m making a noise about. I 
want to call ’em out; then you’ll see what Stacy 
Brown and his little gun can do.” 

“ You are not to use your revolver until Mr. 
Ford gives you permission to do so. He is in com¬ 
mand of our party. The bandits are supposed to 
be somewhere ahead of us. Come along, but don’t 
you dare make a sound. Where have you been 
all the time? ” 

“ Sleeping. Isn’t that what folks buy sleeping 
car tickets for? ” 

“ Hurry,” urged Hippy, who ran on, followed by 
Stacy, stumbling and grunting, making enough 
noise to be heard several car-lengths away. The 
two came up with the others of their party at the 
front end of the forward car, where Ford had 
halted. 

“ Where are they? ” demanded Stacy. “ I’m 
ready to capture the whole bunch. All I want 
now is to be shown. I’m a wild-cat for trouble 
when I get stirred up.” 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


37 


“ Silence, young man! I’ll do all the talking 
necessary. You will get your wish for action soon 
enough, and I reckon you’ll get some of the brag 
taken out of you, too,” retorted Ford sarcastically. 

“ Not if I see ’em first,” gave back Stacy bellig¬ 
erently. 

“ What is the order, Mr. Ford? ” questioned 
Tom Gray. 

“ We will go off to one side. It won’t do to 
follow the railroad tracks. To do so would surely 
draw the fire of the bandits. There are several 
on guard not far from us,” he added in a whisper, 
having been observing closely as he talked. “ I 
think I now know the lay of the land. Be care¬ 
ful, all of you. If you will look sharp you will 
see that the bandits have the treasure car near 
the mouth of the ravine that leads up into the 
mountains.” 

“ They’ve taken our stock car too,” groaned 
Stacy. 

“ That’s so. The ponies are gone, Ford,” whis¬ 
pered Lieutenant Wingate. 

“ I reckon they count on making a get-away on 
your horses,” answered the sheriff. “ We’ll be 
able to block that game, I hope. Come! ” 

After having walked some distance parallel with 
the tracks, the sheriff’s party slowed down at a 
signal from their leader. Lanterns were seen 
moving about beside the tracks a short distance 


38 


GRACE HARLOWE 


ahead of the sheriff. The safety valve of the 
engine was blowing off steam, the blow-off grow¬ 
ing to a deafening roar that died down only when 
the engine pulled away from the express, baggage 
and stock cars. The locomotive came to a stop 
a short distance from the three cars, then the 
sound of a heavy object beating against the side 
door of one of the cars, was heard. 

“ They’re trying to smash in the door of the 
express car,” whispered Ford. 

A volley of shots was fired at the car door by 
the bandits and was promptly answered by shots 
from within the car. The men in the express 
car appeared to be vigorously resisting the attack. 
They were firing at the band outside with such 
good effect that the robbers soon ceased their 
attempts to beat in the door with the section of 
a telegraph pole that they -were using for the 
purpose. A period of silence followed while the 
bandits were holding a hurried consultation; then 
followed a movement among them. 

“ Let me shoot! They’re getting away, I tell 
you,” urged Stacy excitedly. 

“ Not yet, young man. Those fellows are up to 
more mischief, and I think I know what it 
is,” answered Ford in a tense voice. “ Men, we 
must get in and get in at once or we shall be too 
late. It is time to move. Listen to me, then 
obey promptly.” 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


39 


CHAPTER IV 

IN A LIVELY SKIRMISH 

will crawl across the tracks be- 
\/\J tw r een the engine and the cars,” 
* * whispered the sheriff. “ Once on 

the other side we must get to the rear of the 
bandits, and as soon as we find cover there we 
shall begin to shoot. I hope we may be in time. 
When we reach the other side of the rails I wish 
you men to spread out, but I want to know where 
every man of our party is.” 

Ford started at a run, the others following, 
fully as eager as the sheriff to get into action. 
They had barely reached the rails when there 
occurred a sudden, blinding flash, follwed by a 
heavy report. 

“ Dynamite! ” exclaimed Ford. “ I expected 
that.” 

“ Our poor ponies,” groaned Tom Gray. 

“ If they get near my Bismarck he’ll kick the 
everlasting daylights out of them,” growled Stacy 

Brown. 

“ Can’t we do something? ” urged Hippy. 


40 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ Yes. We’re going to do something and do 
it right quick/’ answered Ford grimly. “ Fellows, 
remember that the bandits have rifles, while we 
have only our revolvers. You look out for those 
rifles, is my best advice to you.” 

They reached the other side of the railroad 
tracks without loss of time and without attract¬ 
ing attention to themselves, and it was soon 
evident to the sheriff’s party that the dynamite 
had not accomplished its purpose. The explosive 
had not been well placed, and the express car had 
been little damaged, though a hole had been dug 
out beside the tracks from the force of it. 

“ When I give the word, shoot, but shoot 
over their heads,” commanded Ford incisively. 
“ Spread out and get down on your stomachs when 
you have taken your positions. Get going! ” 
The men of the party crept along, skulking 
through the bushes that grew on the mountain 
side along the railroad right of way. One by 
one the members of the party dropped down and 
lay awaiting the word of command. Every now 
and then a shot would be fired from the interior 
of the express car, answered in each instance by a 
volley from the bandits. 

The preparations of Sheriff Ford up to this 
time had been made swiftly. The signal agreed 
upon for beginning the attack on the train 
bandits was two quick shots from Ford’s revolver. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


41 


The thin line of assailants waited in tense 
silence for the beginning of hostilities. The mem¬ 
bers of the little party were steady, although 
their pulses beat high, for no one deluded him¬ 
self into the belief that this affair was going to 
be wholly one-sided. 

Two sharp reports from Ford’s revolver, even 
though eagerly looked for, came so unexpectedly 
that every member of the party was startled, 
but their panic lasted for only a few seconds. 
Six heavy revolvers answered the signal. Three 
bullets sped harmlessly over the heads of the 
men who were trying to rob the express car. 
Three other bullets from the weapons of Ford, 
Tom and Hippy, by arrangement at the last 
moment before the party spread out, had been 
fired low enough to reach the legs of the bandits. 

Of course there could be no fine shooting on 
account of the darkness, but the sheriff and the 
two men with him did very well indeed, if the 
yells of rage that came from the bandits could 
be depended upon as indication of hits. 

“ Down! ” warned Ford when the revolvers had 
been emptied. Every man in the party well 
knew what was coming. 

The expected was not long in arriving. A 
volley of heavy rifle shots ripped over the heads of 
the sleeping-car party. Ford’s party quickly re¬ 
loaded as they lay; then began firing as rapidly 


42 


GRACE HARLOWE 


as they couicl pull the triggers of their weapons, 
aiming whenever they saw anything to aim at. 

During all this firing the orders of the sheriff 
were implicitly followed. Tom Gray and Lieu¬ 
tenant Wingate were as steady as rock, for 
they had been through skirmishes before. Stacy 
was a little excited, but more from eagerness to 
be up and at the bandits than from fear. The 
bandits were getting desperate. On account of 
the interruption there had been no opportunity to 
explode another charge of dynamite under the 
express car, and they were now too fully engaged 
to proceed with that work. 

The desperadoes knew very well from the 
sound that the attackers were using small arms 
instead of rifles, thus leaving the advantage with 
the bandits so far as weapons were concerned. 
The robbers now began creeping stealthily up the 
slope, firing at every flash from a revolver, but 
Ford’s party was keeping so low that there was 
no great danger of any one being hit except as 
they changed positions and ran for fresh cover, 
which they always did following a volley from the 
bandits’ rifles. The sheriff’s party was giving 
ground slowly, constantly changing positions 
under his orders, the officer himself now and then 
running along the line, giving quick low-spoken 
orders, without regard to his own safety. 

The bandits had been drawn away from the 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


43 


tracks for some distance when Ford dropped 
down beside Hippy Wingate, who was firing from 
behind a small boulder. 

“ What is it, Sheriff? ” questioned Hippy. 

“ I have a plan/’ answered Ford. 

“ Good! What is it? ” 

“ Our revolvers won’t hold them back much 
longer. Should they rush us someone is certain 
to get hit. In any event we shall then have to 
run for it. I don’t like to do that.” 

“ Not yet,” answered Hippy with emphasis. 

“ I think we may be able to save your horses 
and the express car if you are willing to take a 
long chance.” 

“ I have taken so many already that chances 
no longer are a novelty. What is it you wish 
me to do? ” demanded Hippy. 

“ Go to the engineer and tell him to back up. 
Tell him to hit those three cars as hard as he 
dares — hit them as fast as he can without throw¬ 
ing them from the rails or injuring the horses. 
Having done that, let him back down the grade 
as quietly as possible so those fellows won’t 
notice him. When he hits the express car he is 
to keep on backing until he reaches the train, 
which he is to push back a full half mile, and 
then stop and wait for us to finish our job. When 
we have done that we will fire a signal — three 
shots at intervals. I reckon the moon will soon 


44 


GRACE HARLOWE 


be up so we can see what we are doing. Tell 
the engineer, too, that we will fire the same 
signal if we approach him, but, should he see any¬ 
body coming up who does not give that signal, 
he is to start up his engine and reverse for all 
he’s worth. Get me? ” 

“ I get you, Buddy.” 

“ I would go myself, but I am needed here. 
When the time comes we shall have to make 
a sharp get-away ourselves, but if we save the 
train that will be enough. Do you think you can 
reach the locomotive? ” 

“ Surest thing you know, old top,” answered 
Hippy laughingly. 

“ Be careful! You will find that the engine 
is guarded, but I don’t believe there will be more 
than two men guarding it, and perhaps this fir¬ 
ing may have drawn them away, though I hardly 
think so.” 

“ Leave it to me.” 

“ Should you miss us on your return, make 
for the train as fast as you can. You’re the right 
sort, Lieutenant. Pick your own trail and the 
best o’ luck.” 

Lieutenant Wingate was off a few seconds later, 
running cautiously, now and then flattening him¬ 
self on the ground to avoid the occasional volley. 
Hippy had no fear of the bullets that whistled 
over him, though he had a sufficiently intimate 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


45 


acquaintance with such missiles to hold them in 
high respect. That was why he dropped to the 
ground when firing was resumed. In a few 
moments he was out of range of the firing. He 
then straightened up and ran with all speed, 
parallel with the tracks, but keeping several rods 
to one side. 

As he neared the locomotive Hippy proceeded 
with more caution. The night was now suffi¬ 
ciently light to enable him to see the figures of 
two men sitting on the bank beside the tracks 
on the right side of the engine. There was no 
special need for vigilance on their part now, for 
ahead of the locomotive a telegraph pole had 
been felled across the tracks, while to its rear 
were the cars and the bandits. All this made the 
guards somewhat careless so that they failed to 
see a figure dart across the tracks a few rods back 
of the locomotive tender. 

Lieutenant Wingate crept along under the 
overhang of the tender, on the side opposite 
from the two guards. He did not know but there 
might be men on that side also, but soon dis¬ 
covered that there were not. He had crawled to 
the running board, by which entrance is gained 
to the locomotive cab, before he was discovered 
by the fireman. 

“Sh-h-h-h!” warned Hippy just in time to 
check an exclamation that was on the lips of the 


46 


GRACE HARLOWE 


fireman. “ Lean over. I have a message for you 
— for the engineer. Don’t make a quick move, 
but just settle clown. You might fire up the 
boiler a little. With the glare from the fire in 
their eyes those two fellows won’t see quite so 
clearly.” 

The fireman, after a whispered word to the 
engineer, opened the fire door and threw in fresh 
coal, then crouched down with his ear close to 
the Overland Rider, whereupon Hippy briefly 
explained Sheriff Ford’s plan, at the same time 
acquainting the fireman with the situation to the 
rear. 

Another whispered conversation across the 
boiler between engineer and fireman followed, 
with Hippy Wingate clinging on the step of the 
locomotive in tense expectancy. A sudden hiss 
of steam from the cylinders on both sides of the 
engine startled him, and the big drive wheels 
began slipping on the rails. 

“ Hey there! What are ye up to?” yelled a 
guard, making a leap for the running board. 

The fireman responded by hieing a chunk of 
coal, which caught the bandit in the stomach, 
laying the fellow flat in the ditch beside the 
tracks. The remaining guard fired point-blank 
without effect at the engineer’s window, but the 
driver’s head was below the level of the cab 
window at that instant. The wheels gained a 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


47 


foothold, the engine began backing rapidly while 
the guard continued to shoot at the reversing 
hulk of steel. 

“ Good for you, Buddies!” cried Hippy en¬ 
thusiastically. 

The engineer did not slow down as he ap¬ 
proached the scene of the hold-up, knowing that 
there were no persons in the way. 

Hippy had dropped off before the engine gained 
much headway, and rolled over into the ditch and 
soon heard the tender hit the express car. 

The bandits had heard the engine rumbling 
down the grade, but they were too busy shooting 
at Sheriff Ford’s party to be able to spare the 
time to interfere. In the meantime a new note 
had been added to the battle. The train crew, 
now taking courage, had gone to the assistance 
of the Sheriff, armed with revolvers, shot guns, 
iron bars and whatever else they could lay their 
hands on. 

Grace Harlowe and her friends, in the mean¬ 
time, however, remained on guard, and not even 
the trainmen could have got into her sleeping car 
without giving an account of themselves to the 
Overland girls. 

The firing now grew fast and furious. Hippy 
heard it, listened attentively and realized that his 
little party was being assisted. 

“ I must get back and take a hand,” he mut- 


48 


GRACE HARLOWE 


tered, making a wide detour with the intention 
of coming in to the rear of Sheriff Ford and his 
men. To do this he ran up the ravine from the 
railroad, near where the attack had been made. 

Lieutenant Wingate had not proceeded far be¬ 
fore he heard what sounded like hoof-beats. At 
first he feared that the ponies of his outfit had 
been taken; then he realized that this could not 
be the case. 

The ravine in which he found himself was now 
fairly well lighted by the rising moon, and dis¬ 
covery was certain, the banks on either side being 
so steep that the Overlander knew that he could 
not look for escape that way. Not caring to be 
caught in a trap, Hippy turned and began to 
retreat down the ravine, then halted abruptly, as 
he discovered a horseman coming up the ravine 
at a gallop. A man was running just ahead of 
the rider, the latter calling orders to the runner. 

At this juncture, Lieutenant Wingate unlim¬ 
bered his revolver and waited. The two men saw 
him, and the runner pointed to him, then dashed 
right past Hippy, shielding his face with a hand. 
As he passed, the runner fired a shot at Hippy. 

“ I know you! ” yelled the Overlander, sending 
a bullet into the ground behind the runner. “ I 
know your game, you scoundrel! ” 

Hippy, for the moment, apparently had for¬ 
gotten the man on horseback, who was now to 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


49 


the rear of him, for Lieutenant Wingate, upon 
discovering the identity of the man on foot, was 
so amazed that all other thoughts took flight. 

All at once the Overland Rider remembered. 
He wheeled like a flash and fired at the figure 
that was now towering over him. A blow, crush¬ 
ing in its force, came down on the head of the 
Overland Rider, felling him to the ground. The 
butt of a rifle in the hands of the horseman was 
the instrument that caused Hippy's undoing. 

In the meantime, while Hippy was carrying 
Ford's message to the engineer of the Red 
Limited the hot reception they were getting, led 
the bandits to give up the fight and scatter. It 
was one of the fleeing train-robbers who had 
struck Lieutenant Wingate down. 



4 - Grace Harlowe in the High Sierras 


50 


GRACE HARLOWE 


CHAPTER V 

ON THE TRAIL OF THE MISSING 

4 6 T TAVE the train draw up here and wait 
|—j for us,” Sheriff Ford directed, as the 
JL -A trainmen w T ere about to return to 
their train after the bandits had finally been 
driven off. “ Those ruffians have had enough, and 
won’t come back. Some of them are w T ounded, 
too.” 

“ Aren’t you coming with us? ” asked a train¬ 
man. 

“ No. I’m going to look for Lieutenant Win¬ 
gate. He may be on the train, but, if he is not, 
have the engineer give us three whistles.” 

“ Hippy wouldn’t go back without us,” de¬ 
clared Tom Gray with emphasis. 

“ Go back to your train, men, while we look 
for our friend,” urged Sheriff Ford. 

The train crew lost no time in following Ford’s 
advice, being eager to get away from that locality. 
Stacy Brown was sent back with them to put on 
his clothes. Stacy was shivering in his pajamas, 
but the fat boy had done his duty as steadily as 



IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


51 


any of his companions, and fully proven his 
courage, thus winning the admiration of Sheriff 
Ford and Tom Gray. The two other volunteer 
passengers, one a salesman for a Chicago grocery 
house, the other a Colorado ranchman, announced 
their intention of remaining with the sheriff to 
assist him in his search. 

Shortly after the departure of the trainmen, 
three long blasts of the locomotive whistle told 
the party that Lieutenant Wingate had not re¬ 
turned to the train. 

“ That settles it, men. It is up to us to get 
to work,” declared the sheriff. Ford divided his 
forces and sent parties in various directions to 
search for the missing Hippy Wingate, hoping, 
and partly believing, that the lieutenant had prob¬ 
ably met up with the bandits on their retreat 
into the mountains after abandoning their attack 
on the train, and secreted himself somewhere in 
the vicinity of the attempted hold-up. 

The Overlanders were now in the Sierras, and 
the country all about them was wild and unin¬ 
habited. After surveying his surroundings with 
critical eyes, Ford took to the ravine up which 
Hippy had gone in attempting to get back to his 
companions, and soon found the place where the 
bandits had staked down their horses. 

Two warning whistles, the engineer’s regular 
signal that the train was about to start ahead, 


52 


GRACE HARLOWE 


caused the sheriff to run down the ravine to the 
railroad, at the same time firing three shots to 
recall his companions. 

“Get aboard in a hurry! ” shouted the con¬ 
ductor, leaning from the engine cab as the train 
came back to the scene of the attempted robbery. 

“Wait! Has Lieutenant Wingate returned?” 
demanded Ford. 

“ No! ” shouted Stacy Brown from the plat¬ 
form of the smoking car. “ Didn’t you find 
him? ” 

“ Are you positive, Stacy? ” called Tom Gray, 
running up at this juncture. 

“ He is not on the train, Tom,” answered Grace 
Harlowe from a vestibule doorway. “ The engi¬ 
neer said he dropped off just as the engine began 
backing down. Tom, you must search for Hippy. 
Nora is nearly wild from worry over him.” 

“We are going to find him, little woman,” an¬ 
swered Captain Gray. 

“ Are you folks going to get aboard? ” de¬ 
manded the conductor insistently. 

“ No. We’re not going to leave that man here 
by a long shot,” retorted Ford. 

“ All right. Stay if you want to. We’re going 
ahead,” snapped the conductor. 

“Stop! ” ordered the sheriff. “You hold this 
train until I give you leave to move it. I am 
an officer of the law, and in command here for the 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


53 


present. Captain Gray, what do you wish to 
do? ” 

“ Find the lieutenant, Sheriff.” 

“ Then, would it not be a good idea to unload 
your ponies? ” asked Ford. “ We may have to 
be here until tomorrow, and perhaps make a long 
journey into the interior, which we cannot well 
do on foot.” 

“ Yes. We will unload enough animals to carry 
your party,” answered Tom. 

“ Pull your train up to the mouth of the ravine 
and stop,” commanded Ford, clambering aboard 
the locomotive. “ Get aboard there, boys.” 

The train promptly pulled ahead while the 
sheriff had his final argument with the conductor 
in the locomotive cab. The argument was brief, 
but heated, the sheriff laying down the law to 
the angry conductor, who, by the time his train 
had reached the mouth of the ravine, was wholly 
subdued. 

The Overland Riders stepped off the train to 
watch the unloading of the ponies and to get 
instructions from Tom and Mr. Ford. 

“We are about twenty-five miles from Gard¬ 
ner,” said the sheriff, addressing Grace. “ You 
people, I believe, intend to detrain there. Have 
someone unload your stock and then wait until 
we return. You will find a very fair little hotel 
at Gardner.” 


54 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ We will wait,” answered Grace composedly. 

Ford called upon the train crew to assist in 
unloading the ponies. Unloading boards were 
obtained from the baggage car with which a 
rather substantial gangway was constructed, and 
down it the light-footed ponies — five of them — 
were led without the least difficulty. Rifles and 
light equipment for the party were unloaded, the 
rest of the Overlanders’ property and two ponies 
being left on the train. 

While the unloading was in progress Tom Gray 
went to the dining car and purchased provisions, 
consisting of canned goods, pork and beans and a 
side of bacon. Stacy Brown, who had gone back 
to the sleeping car for something he wanted from 
his suitcase, dropped in while Tom was bartering, 
and helped his companion carry back their pur¬ 
chases. By the time they reached the head of 
the train all was in readiness for the departure. 

Ford waved the lantern that he had borrowed 
from the conductor. 

“ Go ahead,” he called to the conductor. “ Mrs. 
Gray, don’t forget to report to Gardner what has 
become of us. If we are not back in two days 
have them send a posse for us.” 

“ I understand,” answered Grace Harlowe. 

“I say, you! You might have Emma do a 
little transmigrating for us while we’re away. 
I reckon we’ll be needing it,” called back Stacy. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


55 


As the train pulled out, the passengers, in¬ 
cluding the girls of the Overland party, were 
gathered on the platforms cheering. The search¬ 
ing party now consisted, besides Sheriff Ford, 
of Tom Gray, Stacy Brown and the two pas¬ 
sengers who had been with them from the first, 
making five in all. 

“ Now, sir, what is your plan? ” demanded Tom 
after they had saddled and made ready to start. 

“ I think we will follow up the ravine for a 
little way,” answered the sheriff. “ Your man 
went this way. I know because the fireman saw 
him take to the ravine. One of you lead my 
horse; I’m going ahead on foot with the lantern.” 

“ If you have no objection, I will go with 
you,” offered Tom. 

Ford nodded, and the two started away, the 
others, on the ponies, keeping well to the rear. 

The two men in advance finally reached the 
point in the ravine where Lieutenant Wingate 
had been struck down. With lantern held close 
to the ground, the sheriff went over it on hands 
and knees, examining every foot of the ground. 

“ Stand where you are until I come back,” he 
directed, addressing Tom Gray. “ Do you recog¬ 
nize this? ” he asked, holding up a hat, upon his 
return a few moments later. 

“ It is the lieutenant’s hat,” answered Tom 
promptly, and Stacy Brown agreed with him. 


56 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ What’s the use of a hat without a head to 
wear it? ” demanded Stacy. 

“This!” replied Ford. “I have proved one 
thing. Our man came this way, but beyond this 
point the only trace of him is the hat. Unless I 
am much mistaken, he left here on the back of 
a horse, and he went that way.” The sheriff 
pointed up the ravine. “ It is fair to assume that 
he did not go voluntarily. The only inference 
possible, then, is that he has been taken.” 

“Captured by the bandits! ” exclaimed Tom. 

Ford nodded. 

“For what reason? ” 

“ Candidly, I don’t know, Captain. We have 
got to find out, and it is advisable for us to go in 
search of the answer to that question as fast as 
we can. We will mount and move on.” 

“ I suppose I am the one who will have to 
furnish the brains for this party and find the 
missing man,” declared Stacy pompously, but no 
one laughed at his sally. 

A minute later they were mounted and on their 
way up the ravine, the sheriff still carrying the 
lantern, which he held low, keeping his gaze 
constantly on the trail, which still was fairly plain 
and easy for an experienced man to follow. Stacy 
dropped behind a little way and produced a plum 
pudding can from his pocket. Opening the can, 
he calmly proceeded to eat the pudding. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


57 


u What’s that you’re eating? ” demanded one 
of the two passengers. 

“ Pudding. A plum one.” 

“ Where did you get it? ” 

“ Oh, back there in the diner/’ answered Stacy 
carelessly. 

“You stole a pudding, eh?” laughed the 
questioner. 

“ Oh, my; no, sir. How could you think such 
a thing? Don’t you know I wouldn’t do any¬ 
thing like that? ” 

“ Oh! You paid for it,” nodded the passenger. 

“ I did not. Captain Gray did. You see it 
was this way. The captain paid for six cans of 
baked beans, but they gave him only five cans. 
The colored gentleman in the diner cheated us 
out of one can, and probably pocketed the dif¬ 
ference, so I sort of helped myself to a pudding 
to even things up.” 

“Humph! You are a young man of unusual 
ability. You should have been a lawyer.” 

“ I know it,” admitted Chunky. „ 

An exclamation from Ford interrupted the 
conversation. The sheriff had picked up a hand¬ 
kerchief which Tom thought belonged to Hippy 
Wingate. They believed that the lieutenant 
had dropped it purposely, knowing full well that 
pursuit would follow promptly when his friends 
discovered that he was missing. 


58 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“We are on the trail all right/' cried the 
sheriff. “ Look sharp and don't make much noise 
about it, either." 

Daybreak found the outfit still in the saddle. 
Now that they could see, Ford threw away the 
lantern, and, after watering their ponies at a 
mountain spring, they pressed on with all speed. 
The men ate a cold breakfast in the saddle, there 
being no time to waste in halting to cook break¬ 
fast. Further, the smoke from a camp-fire would 
be a danger signal to the men for whom they were 
searching. 

About nine o'clock in the morning the sheriff 
and Tom found a split-trail. The two trails led 
up a steep incline to a small plateau. There 
they discovered the remains of a camp-fire. Ford 
dismounted and ran his fingers through the ashes. 

“ There has been a fire here within a few 
hours," he announced. 

“ And the trail has gone to pieces," added 
Stacy Brown who had got down from his pony 
and begun nosing about. 

“ The bandits have taken different directions 
from here, haven't they? " questioned the sheriff, 
glancing up. 

“ Yes. I'll tell you what let's do. Let’s shut 
our eyes and let the ponies decide which trail to 
take," suggested Chunky gravely. “ My Bis¬ 
marck can follow the trail of a squirrel." 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


59 


“ This is not a squirrel trail/’ answered Ford 
briefly. “ There are five of us men here. Four 
will take separate trails while one remains here. 
Let each man follow his trail for, say, three hours, 
then, whether or not he has discovered anything, 
he will return to this point. We can then decide 
upon further action.” 

“ I have an idea that the bandits discovered 
that they were being followed,” suggested one of 
the two passengers. “ Otherwise, why should 
they split up and take different trails? ” 

“ Yes. I agree with you,” nodded the sheriff. 
Mr. Ford decided that one of the passenger 
volunteers should remain behind, then assigned 
the other passenger and Tom, Stacy and himself 
to follow the bandits’ trails, Ford selecting what 
seemed to be the most promising trail for himself. 

Full understanding of what each one was to do 
was had, then the four rode away, leaving their 
guard where he could see, yet remain hidden. 

The four trails led on for five miles without 
a break. Stacy, full of importance because of the 
duty assigned to him, was watching his trail 
closely, and, had he been less observant, he might 
have missed the point where the trail again split. 
Discovering this, he halted and sat regarding the 
two trails with solemn eyes. 

“ Sharp trick,” he nodded. “ It doesn’t fool 
Stacy Brown, though.” He decided that the left- 


60 


GRACE HARLOWE 


hand trail swung over towards the one that Tom 
Gray was riding, perhaps joining it a short dis¬ 
tance from the junction where Stacy was at that 
moment. Having come to this conclusion, the 
fat boy had a bright idea. He would take a short 
cut across country. He knew that this was a 
risky thing to do, but he had several mountain 
peaks for landmarks and did not believe that he 
could go astray, so he started full of confidence, 
leaving both trails behind him. 

An hour-and-a-half passed. Stacy still had 
thirty minutes to ride before it w T ould be time for 
him to turn back towards the starting point, 
as he learned by consulting his watch, and he 
decided to make the most of those thirty minutes. 

“ There! Didn’t I tell you?” he cried as he 
rode out into an open space and instantly dis¬ 
covered the hoof-prints of several horses on the 
soft ground. “ I was positive that I couldn’t be 
wrong. My time is up, but I have found the spot 
where the rascals got together. Now I’ll just 
turn about and follow it home. This is the trail 
we must follow to find Uncle Hip. Yes, I’ll go 
back and report.” 

Stacy Brown’s intentions were good, and, well 
satisfied with what he had accomplished, he rode 
along humming softly to himself, now and then 
confiding his opinions to his pony. The little 
animal wiggled its ears as if it understood. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


61 


“ Hulloa! There goes the sun. Seven o’clock! 
Who would have thought it? According to my 
watch I’ve been back at the forks for a quarter of 
an hour. I wonder if I really have? ” Stacy re¬ 
garded his surroundings narrowly. “ No. I never 
saw any of you mountain-peak fellows before. I 
must have made a mistake in my reckonings, but 
I’ve got a biscuit in my pocket, and we’ll be able 
to go quite a distance on one biscuit, especially 
on this kind of a biscuit. Some biscuits go a 
great deal farther than others. This is one of 
the farther kind,” finished Chunky, performing 
a series of contortions as he tried to break off a 
piece of biscuit with his teeth. 

The pony was laboring up a steep incline, the 
stirrup straps creaking in rhythm with the 
animal’s quick, short steps, Stacy’s body, from the 
belt up, bobbing upwards and backwards with 
monotonous regularity. The reins lay over the 
saddle pommel, thus giving the pony’s head full 
play and enabling it to snatch a mouthful of 
greens here and there. 

Suddenly the little animal threw its head up 
and snorted. Stacy Brown ceased munching and 
sat staring wide-eyed. 

“Suffering cats! You’re IT, Stacy Brown!” 
he gasped. 

Jerking his rifle from the saddle-boot he fired 
three quick shots over the head of his pony. 


62 


GRACE HARLOWE 


CHAPTER VI 

CHUNKY MEETS THE BANDITS 

T HE pony had nosed its way around the 
base of a high rock, fetching up on a 
meadow, when Stacy made the dis¬ 
covery that startled him. What he saw was a 
group of men sitting about a cook-fire, hurriedly 
eating a meal while their ponies grazed on the 
mountain grass some distance from the fire. 

The boy knew instantly that he had stumbled 
upon the bandits. He realized, too, in those brief 
seconds, that he must be a long way from the 
place where he was to meet his companions. 

The desperadoes saw the intruder about the 
time that Chunky saw them. Used to emer¬ 
gencies and quick action, the men sprang for their 
rifles, which were standing against a boulder near 
at hand. Chunky also saw that Lieutenant Win¬ 
gate was not with them. Had the boy thought 
twice he would have held his fire, but, as it 
turned out, his shots served a good purpose. It 
startled the bandits, causing momentary confu¬ 
sion, which gave Stacy an opportunity to head in 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


63 


an opposite direction, which he was not slow in 
doing. 

“ Ye-o-o-o-ow! ” howled the fat boy in a shrill, 
piercing voice. The shots and the yells startled 
the bandits’ ponies as it had their owners. The 
horses threw up their heads, snorted and gal¬ 
loped into the mountain meadow, fully twenty 
rods from the camp, while the boy threw himself 
on the neck of his pony, fully expecting a shot 
or a volley from them, and dashed around the 
base of a high rock at a perilous pace. He had 
no more than reached the protection of the rock 
than the pock, pock of rifle bullets, as they hit 
the rock to his rear, reached his ears. 

“ Oh, wow! ” howled Chunky. “ I lost my 
biscuit.” In ordinary circumstances he would 
have gone back to look for the biscuit, but just 
now Stacy was in somewhat of a hurry. Fortu¬ 
nately for the boy, it took the bandits fully 
twenty minutes to round up their horses, by 
which time the fat boy was far in the lead, riding 
like mad. He had lost all sense of direction, but 
perhaps the pony had not. The little animal 
had taken affairs into its own control and was 
laying out its own trail. 

The bandits, instead of following, rode with all 
speed farther into the mountains, but Chunky 
continued on at his same perilous pace, even 
though darkness had now overtaken him. 


64 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“Whoa, Bismarck!’' commanded Chunky 
finally, reining in his pony. “ Do you know 
where you’re going, or don’t you? ” 

The pony rattled the bit between its teeth, 
tossed its head up and down, and uttered a loud 
whinny. 

“You said ‘ yes,’ didn’t you? All right, if you 
know where you are, go along. You surely can’t 
know any less about it than I do.” 

Rider and mount resumed their journey at a 
somewhat slower pace, and rode on until Stacy 
was brought to a sudden stop by a sharp, gruff 
word of command. 

“Halt! ” ordered a voice just ahead of him. 
The pony gave a startled jump that nearly un¬ 
horsed its rider. 

“ Oh, wow! ” howled Chunky, and on the im¬ 
pulse of the moment he fired two quick shots at 
the sound. 

“Stop it! It’s Tom Gray. Haven’t you any 
more sense than to blaze away before you know 
at what you are shooting? ” 

“Oh, fiddlesticks! Had you been through 
what I have you would shoot at the drop of the 
hat. Are you lost, too? ” 

“ Lost? I am not lost. Don’t you know where 
you are? ” 

“ No. I might be in the suburbs of Chillicothe 
for all I know.” 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


65 


“ The camp is only a few rods away,” Tom 
Gray informed him. 

“ You don’t say? ” wondered Chunky. 

“ We heard you coming, and thought it might 
be Mr. Ford. How did you happen to come in 
over that trail? ” 

“ Ask Bismarck. He knows all about it. I 
don’t. Got any news about Uncle Hip? ” 

“ No. Of course you saw nothing of either him 
or the bandits.” 

“ I not only found the robbers, but I had a 
battle with them,” answered Stacy. 

“ What’s that? Don’t trifle, Brown. This is a 
serious matter,” rebuked Tom. 

“ I’m telling you the truth. It was this way. 
I was riding along, peaceful like, when, all of a 
sudden, biff, boom, bang! It seemed to me that 
fifty or a hundred men burst from the bushes.” 

“ So many as that? ” laughed Tom. 

“ Well, something like that. I may be a dozen 
or so out of the way, but you see I didn’t stop 
to count them. I raised my trusty rifle and — 
well, to make a long story short, I fired right into 
that howling bunch of bandits. I suppose I 
emptied as many as twelve saddles.” 

“ Wait a moment,” urged one of the travelers 
who had joined them. “ How many times did 
you reload? ” 

“ Not at all. I didn’t have time.” 


5 


■Grace Harlowe in the High Sierras 



66 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ Captain Gray, he emptied twelve saddles, so 
he must have shot two men with each bullet, as 
his magazine holds only six cartridges. I call that 
some shooting.” 

“ Is that so? Then I must have done as you 
say. Wonderful, wasn’t it? ” 

At this juncture, Sheriff Ford rode into camp 
and was quickly told of what Stacy had dis¬ 
covered. Mr. Ford, after a few quick questions, 
realized that the boy really had stumbled on the 
right trail and discovered the bandits. 

“ You did well, young man,” he complimented. 
“ I thought I had struck a lead, but the trail 
pinched out. Can you take us to the place where 
you came on those ruffians? ” 

“ No, but the pony can, or you can follow my 
trail. I reckon I left a pretty plain one. I know 
Uncle Hip better than you do, and if he has been 
able to get away from the fellows who captured 
him I’ll guarantee that he will find us. He would 
know we wouldn’t go away and leave him. For 
that reason I suggest that we build a fire to at¬ 
tract Uncle Hip’s attention, should he be in this 
vicinity.” 

One of the men protested, saying it would be 
dangerous, but the sheriff agreed with Stacy. 

“ We will have a fire and will post guards to 
protect ourselves,” he said. “ We shall not be 
bothered by the bandits to-night; I am positive 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


67 


of that. They know that the alarm has been 
given and that, in all probability, a posse is 
already on their trail. If nothing develops during 
the night — if we get no news from Lieutenant 
Wingate — we will start for Gardner in the morn¬ 
ing and organize a big searching party to comb 
the mountains for him.” 

After all phases of the situation had been dis¬ 
cussed, the sheriff’s plan was agreed to, and a fire 
was built up. It had been blazing for some time 
when, in a lull in the conversation, Stacy was re¬ 
minded that he had not finished telling about his 
meeting with the bandits. 

“ Yes. You left off with shooting two men 
with each bullet,” laughed Tom Gray. 

“ In the excitement of meeting up with the 
villains,” resumed Stacy, without an instant’s 
hesitation, “ I wheeled the pony — spun him 
about on his hind feet like a top, set him down on 
all fours and dashed away. We didn’t gallop, 
we simply dashed. You know it wasn’t that I 
was afraid. Anyone who knows me knows that 
nothing can scare me. I — ” 

“ Bang, bang, bang! ” 

“ Oh, wow! ” howled the fat boy, diving head 
first into a clump of bushes where he crouched 
wide-eyed, the chill creepers chasing,up and down 
his spinal column. The others of the party 
sprang up and snatched their rifles, Ford kicking 


68 


GRACE HARLOWE 


the blazing wood of the camp-fire aside, and Tom 
Gray dousing it with a pail of water. 

“ Lie low, everybody, till I find out what this 
means! ” commanded the sheriff sharply. 

“ Are — are we attacked? Have the scoundrels 
come back? ” chattered Chunky. 

“ Be quiet! ” Mr. Ford crept out into the 
darkness, the others waiting in tense expectancy 
listening for a rifle volley. 

Tom thought the shots they had heard were 
signals, but no one else believed such to be the 
case. 

The flash of a revolver, a sharp report close at 
hand, was followed by a shout from Stacy Brown 
and two shots from his own weapon at a shadowy 
moving figure skulking behind a clump of 
bushes. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


69 


CHAPTER VII 

BANDITS CATCH A TARTAR 

T HE blow on the head had left Lieutenant 
Wingate unconscious. Without loss of 
a minute he was thrown over the back of 
the horse, in front of the rider, like a sack of meal 
on its way home from the mill, then the horse 
started away at a trot. 

After a few moments of violent jolting, con¬ 
sciousness began to return to Hippy and he groped 
for something to take hold of to relieve the strain 
of his trying position. His fingers finally gripped 
the boot of his captor. 

Quick as a flash, the bandit brought down the 
butt of his revolver on the captive’s head, where¬ 
upon Hippy went to sleep again, the blood trick¬ 
ling from nose and mouth. Other riders, in the 
meantime, had caught up with and passed the 
rider who was carrying him away. From what 
was said it was apparent that Hippy’s captor was 
the leader of the party, for the others deferred to 
his commands, and, riding on ahead, soon dis¬ 
appeared. The trail grew more and more rugged. 


70 


GRACE HARLOWE 


On the right a solid granite wall rose sheer for 
several hundred feet, while on the left, the side 
over which Hippy’s head was hanging, the ground 
dropped away sharply for fully three hundred 
feet. 

Lieutenant Wingate again began to recover 
consciousness. It seemed to him as if all the 
blood in his body were concentrated in his aching 
head and neck. He did not realize at the moment 
how the arms and hands were smarting from being 
dragged through bushes and against the rough 
edges of rocks, but he did discover that two large 
lumps had been raised on his head, one well down 
towards the base of the brain. Had the second 
blow been an inch farther down, it probably would 
have killed him. 

His head becoming clearer, Hippy began to 
consider his situation — to think what he could 
do to extricate himself from his uncomfortable 
and perilous position. His train of thought was 
suddenly interrupted by an exclamation from the 
bandit and a sharp pressure of a spur against the 
pony’s side. Hippy could feel the rider’s leg con¬ 
tract as the spur was driven home. The pony 
reared and threatened to buck, but, evidently 
changing its mind, started away at a jolting trot. 

The interruption had served one good purpose: 
it had given Hippy an opportunity to get one 
hand up to his shirt, where the hand fumbled for 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


71 


a few perilous seconds, then dropped cautiously 
to its former position. That hand now held a 
pin. Miserable as he was, Hippy smiled grimly 
and pricked the pony’s side with the pin. 

The bandit roared as the animal jumped, and 
again applied the spur, followed instantly by a 
jab of Hippy’s new weapon, the pin. A lively 
few seconds ensued, and the pony bucked so 
effectively that its rider had all he could do to 
stick to the saddle, and at the same time manage 
his captive and the reins. Hippy jabbed the pin 
in again and again, though every buck of the 
animal nearly broke the Overlander in two. 

A few seconds of this treatment and the end 
came suddenly. With a final humping of its back 
in a buck that lifted all four feet from the ground, 
the pony went up into the air with arching back 
and with head held stiffly close to its forefeet. 
The bandit threw all the strength of one hand 
into an effort to jerk that stubborn head back 
where it belonged, while the other hand grabbed 
desperately for the body of the captive, which 
was slowly slipping away. The bandit, as a re¬ 
sult, came a cropper over the pony’s head. Hippy 
wriggled and slipped off, shooting head first down 
the sharp incline of smooth rocks that fell away 
from the left side of the trail. The pony galloped 
away a few rods; then, halting, gazed about him 
uneasily. 


72 


GRACE HARLOWE 


The bandit, after a few dazed seconds, got up 
and started for his mount, then halting suddenly 
began searching for his captive. Hippy Wingate 
was nowhere in sight, though his captor found 
where his body had crushed down the bushes as it 
slipped from the trail. The bandit finally gave 
it up, and, catching his pony, quickly rode away. 

“ No use. He’s done for,” growled the man be¬ 
fore leaving the scene. “ He’s gone clear to the 
bottom, mashed flat as a flapjack.” 

The hoof-beats of the pony had no sooner died 
away than Hippy Wingate’s head was cautiously 
raised from behind the roots of a tree that clung 
to the side of the mountain, gripped into a deep 
crevice for anchorage. 

“ I’m not a flapjack just yet, old top,” he 
muttered. “ I may be if I am not careful how 
I move about. I suppose I ought to hang on 
here till daylight, but those fellows may come 
back. They can’t afford to let me get away. I 
know too much.” 

Hippy began crawling cautiously toward the 
trail, and finally gaining it, sat down to think over 
what he had better do next. He felt for his re¬ 
volver and was relieved to find that it had not 
been taken from him, and thus fortified, he decided 
that the prudent course would be to find a hiding 
place and wait there for daylight, so he started 
away, taking the back track, which he followed 



73 




























74' 


GRACE HARLOWE 


until it had so widened that he was unable to keep 
to the trail. He then branched off to the right, 
holding as straight a course as possible. The 
trickle of water caught his ear, and, a moment 
later, Hippy was flat on his stomach, drinking 
long, deep draughts from a tiny mountain stream. 
He then bathed his face and head and his smart¬ 
ing, swollen arms. He knew that he ought to be 
moving, but what direction to take was the ques¬ 
tion. Being a good woodsman, he knew that to 
wander aimlessly about in the night surely would 
result in losing himself completely. 

After searching about for some time, Lieutenant 
Wingate found a high rock suited to his purpose. 
He climbed up and sat down. 

“ The scoundrels will have to move quickly 
if they get me this time,” he muttered. 

“ They'll — ” Hippy's head drooped, and he 
sank slowly to the rock fast asleep. 

When he again opened his eyes the sun was 
shining down into them, and his cheeks felt as 
if they were on fire. 

“ Morning! Who would think it?” he ex¬ 
claimed. 

Without wasting time, he made his way back 
to the stream where he drank and bathed. Now . 

came the question as to the course he should 
follow. 

“ If is probable that some of my outfit will re- 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


75 


main by the railroad where the hold-up occurred/’ 
he reflected. “ That’s where I am going.” 

After a final look at the sun, Hippy started 
back briskly. He did not follow the trail, be¬ 
lieving that he could find a more direct course, 
and that such a course eventually would lead him 
to the railroad a short distance to the west of 
where he had been the previous evening. 

It was nearly noon when Hippy first began to 
realize that he was hungry. He had not thought 
of breakfast, nor would it have done him any 
good had he thought of it. An hour later he 
found a berry bush and ate all the fruit it held. 
That helped a little and he again plodded on. 
About four o’clock that afternoon he reached the 
railroad, and, not long after that, he was trotting 
around the bend to the scene of the hold-up. The 
place was deserted. Hippy fired a signal from 
his revolver and listened. There was no reply. 
A rabbit hopped across the tracks. He fired twice 
at it, missing each time. 

“ There goes my supper! ” he exclaimed rue¬ 
fully. “ Next time I sight game I’ll throw a stone 
at it. I reckon I can throw stones better than 
I can shoot. I should have thought my friends 
would wait for me.” 

Hippy did discover where the Overland ponies 
had been unloaded, then he understood that his 
companions had gone in search of him. This 


76 


GRACE HARLOWE 


knowledge heartened him up a great deal, and he 
immediately set himself to work to discover which 
way the party had gone. What he was looking 
for was the trail of his own pony, whose shoe- 
prints he believed he would be able to identify 
instantly. Hippy picked up the trail in a re¬ 
markably short time. 

“Here I go. Eve got to travel some if I am 
to catch them before dark,” he cried, starting 
away. 

Darkness found Lieutenant Wingate wandering 
aimlessly near the place where the trail forked 
and where his companions were now discussing 
their further plans for the morrow. He concluded 
that he would have to spend another night in the 
open and alone, and had just ensconced himself 
on the highest ledge he could find when he caught 
sight of the light from Sheriff Ford’s camp-fire. 
Hippy gazed at it for some moments, then raised 
his revolver and fired three shots. 

The camp-fire was suddenly blotted out. 

“ There! I’ve shot out the fire,” he grumbled. 
“ Just the same, I don’t believe it is the bandit 
camp, and I’m going down.” 

Moving with extreme caution, Hippy crept 
down the mountain-side until he believed that he 
was near the place where he had seen the fire. 
It was then that he heard the welcome voice of 
Sheriff Ford. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


77 


u I reckon there’s nothing doing, boys/’ Ford 
was saying. “ Light the fire, but keep a sharp 
lookout.” 

Hippy got up. Stacy’s keen eyes discovered 
him and the fat boy fired. 

“ Hi, there! Cut the firing! It’s Hippy,” 
called Lieutenant Wingate, ducking. 

“ Oh, wow! ” howled Chunky. 

A shout went up from the searching party when 
Hippy called out his warning, and he was fairly 
dragged into camp where Sheriff Ford hurriedly 
started a cook-fire and put over coffee as a starter. 
While this was being done, Lieutenant Wingate 
briefly related the story of his capture and 
escape. 

“ You say you know the man who was on foot 
when you were taken? ” asked Tom Gray. 

“ Yes, I know him.” 

“ Give me one guess and see if I can name 
him,” spoke up Sheriff Ford, straightening up, 
frying-pan in hand. 

“ It’s yours. Who is he? ” laughed Lieutenant 
Wingate. 

“ Our story-telling friend of the Red Limited, 
William Sylvester Holmes,” replied Ford con¬ 
fidently. 

“ You win,” chuckled Hippy. “ How did you 
guess it? ” 

“ I was suspicious of him all the time. At 


78 


GRACE HARLOWE 


Summit my suspicions were, in a way, confirmed. 
He sent telegrams from there that, I now believe, 
informed the gang about the treasure car A 

“ Was there really a treasure car on the train, 
Ford? ” asked Tom. 

“ You might call it that. There was nearly 
three million dollars in gold on that car. Pretty 
good haul, eh? I reckon the authorities of this 
county will be glad to hear what you have to tell 
them. I will go to Gardner with you and we’ll 
have a confab with the sheriff there, if you will 
spare the time.” 

“ Sure we will,” spoke up Stacy. “We riders 
have to keep busy, you know.” 

“ It strikes me that you have been rather busy 
since I first met you,” returned the sheriff. 

“ What are your wishes, to go through to-night 
or wait until morning and get an early start? ” he 
asked the two passengers. 

“ I’ll flag a train for myself down by the bend 
and you men can ride through. You can’t miss 
the way. There is a good trail all the way 
from here to Gardner, and you should be there by 
early afternoon.” 

The two passengers said that, if the sheriff 
would flag the train for them, they would prefer 
to go by train too, as they were in haste to reach 
their destination on the coast, important business 
awaiting them there. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


79 


“All right. I'll flag the next train after we 
get to the rails and put you two men aboard. I 
can then ride through with these three Overland 
men. I'd prefer a hoss to a Pullman any time." 

The party made themselves as comfortable as 
they could, sleeping on the ground, and before 
daylight next morning Mr. Ford had breakfast 
ready. Hippy was stiff and his hat hurt his head, 
but he made light of his discomfiture and was 
ready for the start which was made before sun¬ 
up. Ford made good his word to stop the next 
train, which proved to be a local, and there was 
not so much grumbling by the train crew as there 
would have been had the train been a limited 
one. 

The horseback ride that day was a hard one, 
but all were used to the saddle, and Sheriff Ford, 
himself a “ rough-rider," was interested in the 
riding of the three Overlanders. By this time he 
had grown to understand Stacy Brown better, 
and his laughter at the boy's sallies was loud and 
appreciative. Late in the afternoon the delayed 
party rode into Gardner where a warm welcome 
awaited them from the Overland girls, who had 
already arranged for a posse to go out to look for 
the missing ones. 

The authorities were keenly interested in the 
information that Sheriff Ford and the three Over¬ 
land men had to offer, and declared their intention 


80 


GRACE HARLOWE 


of starting out in an effort to round up the gang. 
That evening there was a genuine reunion of the 
Overlanders at which their further plans were dis¬ 
cussed. It was left to Hippy to find a guide, 
while Stacy was to select the pack animals, and 
the girls the food and other equipment for the 
journey. The results of their quests were des¬ 
tined to furnish much amusement on the following 
day. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


81 


CHAPTER VIII 

HEADED FOR THE HIGH COUNTRY 

C C IT HAVE found a guide,” announced Hippy 
i next morning, walking into the post office 
where he found all the other members of 
his party writing postal cards to friends in the 
east. 

“ That's good. Where is he? ” asked Tom 
Gray. 

“ If you will look up you will see him.” 

The Overlanders looked. Just to the rear of 
Hippy Wingate stood a grinning Chinaman, both 
hands hidden in the ends of his flowing sleeves. 
The Oriental was bowing and scraping, his queue 
animatedly bobbing up and down. Stacy uttered 
a loud “ Ha, ha! ” 

“ Permit me to introduce to you the Honorable 
Woo Smith whom I have selected, subject to your 
approval, to accompany us on our journey to the 
High Sierras,” announced Hippy Wingate. 

“ But surely, Hippy, this man cannot be a 
guide,” protested Elfreda Briggs. “ We need a 
jguide! ” 

6 - Grace Harlowe in the High Sierras 



82 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ Perhaps he isn’t, but you can’t find anything 
else with a magnifying glass in this burg. Should 
you folks think best not to accept him, we’ll go it 
alone. I’ve done the best I can. Remember, too, 
that I’m a sick man, that I’ve been mauled and 
keelhauled by a bunch of bandits and — ” 

“ Do you speak English? ” interrupted Grace 
Iiarlowe. 

“ Les. Me speak English velly fine.” 

“ You say his name is Woo Smith? ” questioned 
Emma. 

“ The Honorable Woo Smith,” Hippy informed 
her. 

“ What has he done in the way of mountain 
work? ” persisted Grace. 

“ I am informed that he has made frequent 
journeys to the mountains with prospecting 
parties and hunters as cook, guide and general 
handy man. At one time he was out with a 
government survey party.” 

“ As cook or guide? ” interjected Nora Wingate. 

“ The former, I believe.” 

“ This outfit needs a good cook,” suggested 
Chunky. 

“ Woo, do you know horses? ” asked Tom Gray. 

“ Les.” 

“ That reminds me, Chunky, what have you 
done about the pack animals? ” demanded 
Lieutenant Wingate. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


83 


“ Got three dandies. I have learned that we 
must travel light. They say that the trails are 
very rough in the High Country, and further, 
that we must depend upon the country for our 
food, generally speaking. I don’t know what 
Uncle Hip and I are going to do if it comes to 
short rations. Of course, as a last resort we can 
eat the pack-horses. They eat horses in France, 
so why shouldn’t we do the same, if we’re hungry 
enough.” 

“ That reminds me. One of the men out with 
us on our search for Hippy declared that our 
ponies would not be suitable for this journey, 
and that it requires animals accustomed to the 
peculiarities of the Sierras,” averred Tom Gray. 

“ Oh, pooh! ” grunted the fat boy. “ My pony 
could climb a tree.” 

“ How much money do you wish, Woo?” 
questioned Tom. 

“ Five dollah a week.” 

“ What do you say, good people? ” asked Grace. 

“ I don’t care what you do,” exclaimed Hippy. 
“ I want food and I want someone who knows how 
to cook it fit for human consumption, that’s 
all.” 

“I second the motion,” agreed Stacy. “We 
can’t all live on soul-transmigration stuff. I’d 
get mental indigestion on that food in thirty sec¬ 
onds by the watch.” 


84 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“We had a Chinaman on our journey across 
the Great American Desert, and he was an ex¬ 
cellent man,” declared Elfreda Briggs. “ I move 
that we take this one.” 

The others agreed with her, and Grace, turning 
to Woo, told him that he was engaged. 

“ What has been done about the general 
equipment? ” asked Tom. 

Grace said that experienced men had advised 
against the Overlanders burdening themselves 
with tents or any heavy equipment. 

“We have slept in the open many times be¬ 
fore, so I think we shall be able to get along very 
nicely,” she added. 

Stacy Brown protested vigorously. He declared 
that he would not sleep out of doors where bugs 
and other undesirable things could get at him, 
but, after discussing the matter further, every one 
agreed that the tents would prove an unnecessary 
encumbrance. They went over their list criti¬ 
cally, eliminating several articles that they 
thought they could do without. 

“ I have an idea! ” exclaimed Stacy. 

“ Keep it,” urged Emma. “ They seem to be 
reasonably scarce with you.” 

“ At least I don’t transmigrate them,” retorted 
Chunky. “ As I was about to remark when 
interrupted, I have an idea that this outfit will 
have to browse with the horses if it wishes food.” 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


85 


“ It would be a great flesh-reducer,” murmured 
Emma, giving Chunky a sidelong glance. 

Elfreda suggested that they have a look at the 
pack-horses selected by Stacy, so they all walked 
over to the corral, and expressed themselves as 
well satisfied with Stacy’s selections. One white, 
mischievous little animal, with a circle of delicate 
pink about each eye, they named Kitty. The 
name seemed to fit her. The other two animals 
they decided to name later on after learning their 
peculiarities. 

“ I’ve ordered pack saddles for them,” an¬ 
nounced Hippy, “ and a pair of kyacks for each 
horse.” 

“ What is a kyack? Something good to eat? ” 
questioned Stacy. 

“ A kyack is an alforgas,” Emma Dean informed 
him. “ I am amazed at your ignorance.” 

“ I agree with you, Emma. For once I do,” 
nodded Hippy. “ For your information, Stacy, a 
kyack is a packing outfit. These are made either 
of heavy canvas or of rawhide, shaped square and 
dried over boxes. After drying, the boxes are re¬ 
moved, leaving the stiff rawhide or canvas, like 
small trunks, open at the top. They are in 
reality sacks — ” 

“ Me savvy klyack,” chuckled the Chinaman, 
rubbing his palms together gleefully. 

“ Mr. Smith knows,” nodded Hippy. 


86 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ The explanation is not satisfactory. Once 
more I rise to ask if this kyack thing is some sort 
of dried beef that we are expected to eat when 
real food is scarce? ” insisted Chunky. 

“You and I, lad, would have to be pretty 
hungry to eat a kyack/’ laughed Hippy. “ The 
loops of the kyack are slung on each side of the 
horse. They are used to pack belongings over 
the mountains. I have also ordered sawbuck 
trees for the pack-saddles, together with pack- 
cinch, and pack-rope for each animal. I also took 
the liberty of buying blankets from which to make 
saddle-pads. It will be cheaper than trying to 
get along with horses with sore backs, I think. 
Then there are hobbles for the horses, a couple 
of cow bells — ” 

“ Are we going to take cows along with us? ” 
wondered Chunky, opening his eyes a little wider. 

“ Not quite. Only a calf or two,” murmured 
Emma Dean. 

u The bells are for the horses, so that they may 
be easily found in the morning,” spoke up Tom 
Gray. “ I thought you had been out before.” 

“ I have, but never with such an outfit as this, 
especially the transmigration end of it,” retorted 
Stacy, giving Emma a quick look to see if his shot 
had gone home. “ I see,” he added. “ But every 
time I hear the bells a-ringing, I shall think of 
home and a pitcherful of warm milk.” 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


87 


“ Perfectly proper food for the species to which 
I so recently referred/’ observed Emma airily. 
“ However, from all accounts, you will have 
nothing more nourishing than snow-water from 
the tall peaks of the Sierras.” 

“ Br-r-r-r! ” shivered Stacy. 

At Hippy’s direction, the Honorable Woo Smith 
led the pack-horses over to the general store, and 
there, with Stacy to assist him, Hippy began 
packing their equipment, throwing a diamond 
hitch about each pack. The girls, observing the 
work, discovered that Stacy Brown was quite as 
familiar with “ throwing packs ” as was his Uncle 
Hippy. 

“ Mister Brown is not quite the fool he would 
have us believe,” declared Elfreda Briggs. “ It 
is my opinion that he believes in putting his worst 
foot forward, keeping the other one hidden behind 
it.” 

A group of mountaineers were standing near, 
observing the operations with interest. One 
stepped up and examined the much-worn saddle 
on Hippy Wingate’s pony. 

“ Son,” said he, “ do ye reckon on climbin’ 
mountings with that thing? ” 

“ Why not? ” demanded Hippy. 

“ I reckon it might be all right for the Rockies, 
but yer saddle’ll be on the critter’s tail afore ye 
git half way to the top of the Big Sierras.” 


88 


GRACE HARLOWE 


Hippy stroked his chin reflectively. 

“ You mean I ought to have a double-cinch on 
the riding saddles? Is that it? ” 

“ I reckon.” 

“ Thanks, Buddy. I’ll fix it. I should have 
thought of that, but I am not at all familiar with 
the lay of the land up here.” 

“ Ye will be, pardner, after ye’ve fell off it a 
few thousand times. The landscape in these here 
parts be rather sudden in spots,” drawled the 
mountaineer. 

A yell from the Honorable Woo Smith inter¬ 
rupted the dialogue. Kitty, the mischievous 
pack-horse, had playfully seized the queue of Woo 
Smith between her teeth and was jerking her head 
up and down, and, with each jerk, the Chinaman 
was jolted backwards, howling lustily, chattering 
in volleys in his native tongue. The street, near 
the village store, filled with cowboys and citizens 
as if by magic. They set up yells, shouts and eat¬ 
eries that smothered the chatter of the new guide. 

Grace, being nearest to the mischievous animal, 
sprang forward and gave the white pack-horse a 
smart slap with the flat of her hand on Kitty’s 
plump stomach. The mare instantly dropped the 
howling Chinaman, and, whirling on Grace with 
wide open mouth, looked as if she were about to 
devour the Overland Rider. The girl never 
flinched. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


89 


“ Aren’t you ashamed of yourself, Kitty? ” she 
chided. “ If ever I see you do a thing like that 
again I’ll surely have you punished. Do you 
understand? ” 

The mare’s mouth closed slowly, her upper lip 
quivered, she nibbled gingerly at Grace Harlowe’s 
sleeve, and looked as meek as was possible for a 
mischievous pony to look. The cowboys grunted 
disgustedly. They were disgruntled that Grace 
had spoiled their fun, disappointed that the white 
mare had not taken a large slice, either out of the 
Chinaman or Grace Harlowe herself. 

“ Grace, do you know, you have given us a most 
remarkable demonstration of the transmigration 
of thought,” declared Emma. “ It was your 
thought, transmitted to the mentality of the white 
mare, that caused her to desist, to beg of you to 
forgive and — ” 

“ Yeo-o-o-o-ow! ” howled Chunky. 

“ Young man, your rudeness is inexcusable,” 
rebuked Emma. 

“ That’s what the white mare wanted to say to 
Grace,” retorted Stacy. 

While all this was taking place, Tom and 
Elfreda were talking with the mountaineers, get¬ 
ting all the information they could about trails 
and conditions in the mountains. The result of 
the information gleaned was that the Overland 
Riders decided that they would take the “ Cold 


90 


GRACE HARLOWE 


Stream Trail ” for the High Country, a section 
seldom visited, but which Woo Smith declared he 
knew all about. The spectators were inclined to 
make sport of the explorers, and especially of the 
idea that women could ride the Sierras. Even the 
postmaster sought to dissuade them from making 
the attempt. 

“ It’s a bad country,” he confided to Tom. 
“ With that bunch of gals on your hands, you’ll 
starve to death, sure’s you’re a foot high.” 

“ There is plenty of game there, is there not? ” 
questioned Tom. 

“ Yes, for them that knows how to shoot.” 

“ Then I reckon we will not starve. What 
other objection is there? ” 

“ The Jones Boys. You watch out right smart 
for them.” 

“ Who are they? ” demanded Elfreda, who had 
been an interested listener to the conversation 
between Tom and the postmaster. 

The postmaster glanced about him appre¬ 
hensively before replying, then, leaning towards 
Tom, spoke in a half-whisper. 

“ Outlaws! ” he said. “ I reckon you’ve heard 
of them. It is suspected that they’re the fellows 
that held up the Red Limited the other night. I 
reckon you know something about that affair.” 
The postmaster squinted knowingly at Tom, who 
nodded. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


91 


“ So, that’s it, eh? ” 

“ Yes. Better look out for them. They have 
their hang-out somewhere in the mountains, but 
nobody has ever been able to trail them to it, 
and I don’t reckon no one ever will — and come 
back to tell about it. A squad of Pinkerton de¬ 
tectives went into the mountains looking for those 
fellows, but not one of that bunch of detectives 
has ever been heard from since.” 

“ It sounds shivery, doesn’t it? ” spoke up 
Elfreda. “ However, we have no especial reason 
to fear the bandits because there could be no ob¬ 
ject in their interfering with us. We do not 
carry money with us — not enough to make it 
worth their while to try to rob us — nor are we 
looking for trouble.” 

“No object!” exploded the postmaster. 
“ Lady, those fellows would kill you for two bits 
and a piece of string.” 

In his own mind, Tom Gray was not so positive 
that the bandits had no reason for interfering with 
them. On the contrary, if the Jones Boys knew 
that it was the Overland Riders who had assisted 
in driving them from the scene of the attempted 
train robbery, the Overlanders might confidently 
look for some stirring times in the High Sierras. 


92 


GRACE HARLOWE 


CHAPTER IX 

THEIR SLUMBERS DISTURBED 

4 4 4 LL aboard for the High Sierras!” 

/-% called Stacy Brown, swinging to his 
saddle a few minutes later. The 
others, one by one, mounted and sat awaiting the 
order to start. 

Woo Smith had gone on ahead. Scorning the 
use of a pony to ride, he had trotted on, shooing 
the pack-horses along, the departure of the Over¬ 
landers having been deferred until about an hour 
after he had left them. Woo said that he would 
make camp at a good place and have supper ready 
upon their arrival. 

The Overlanders finally started away, waving 
their hands to the curious natives, and soon 
reached the trail that led towards the High 
Country. The trail was an old one, but so seldom 
used that it could hardly be dignified by the name 
of trail. Woo plainly was familiar with it, for he 
had reached it by the most direct course, marking 
the beginning of it by breaking over branches of 
bushes, a trick that he had learned from white 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


93 


men with whom he had explored the mountains 
at some previous time. 

Very good time was made that day, and when 
about eighteen miles from Gardner they saw the 
smoke of Woo's camp-fire. Half an hour later 
they reached it and found that the guide had 
selected an ideal camping place. There was water 
and good feed for the horses. Woo already had 
turned out the pack-horses, which were grazing 
out of sight of the camp, and the cowbells on two 
of them could be heard tinkling in the distance. 

“ I reckon I drew a prize," declared Hippy 
pompously, referring to Woo. 

“ Time will tell," answered Emma Dean. 

“ I agree with you," answered Elfreda Briggs. 
“ One shouldn't jump at conclusions, as Grace 
Harlowe says." 

Saddles were quickly removed, and, before do¬ 
ing anything else, the men of the party washed 
the backs of the ponies to prevent the animals 
becoming saddle-sore. By the time they had 
finished and turned out the ponies to browse, the 
guide had supper ready for them. The air was 
hot and motionless, for they were not yet high 
enough in the mountains to catch the cool breezes 
from the snow-clad tops, and all felt the heat. 

The Chinaman had prepared a supper that won 
golden words of praise from the girls of the Over¬ 
land party, and Stacy and Hippy ate until it 


94 


GRACE HARLOWE 


seemed as if they must pop open. The flapjacks 
fairly melted in the mouths of the Riders and the 
coffee they pronounced to be delicious. 

“ Won’t it be fine not to have to do any cooking 
on this trip? ” smiled Emma. 

“ Yes. I feel as if a great load had been lifted 
from my shoulders,” agreed Stacy. “ I did most 
of the cooking for our Pony Rider outfit. Or¬ 
dinarily I would rather cook than do most 
anything that I know of.” 

“ I am sincerely glad that you are not cooking 
for this party,” declared Emma Dean with 
emphasis. 

“ You are congratulating yourselves too early,” 
interjected Nora Wingate. “ We are all going to 
do work just as we always have done.” 

Grace and Elfreda agreed with her. 

“ You don’t mean that we’ve got to get up in 
the dewy morning and rustle grub for the outfit, 
do you? ” demanded Chunky. 

“Yes, of course,” answered Grace. 

“ That is the fun of camping,” said Miss 
Briggs. “We should soon forget all we knew had 
we servants to do the work for us. He is an 
industrious fellow, though, I must say,” added 
Elfreda, glancing at Woo, who was busily at work 
washing dishes and singing “Hi-lee, hi-lo! ” 

“ He is a song-bird, too,” observed Stacy. 

“ Woo, you must be saving of the provisions,” 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


95 


called Grace. “ Remember we must make our 
supplies go a long way, for we shall not get any 
more for some time.” 

u Don’t wolly till to-mollow. Hi-lee, hi-lo; 
hi-lee, hi-lo! ” sang the guide. 

“ What’s that he says? ” demanded Tom Gray. 

“ He says, ‘ Don’t worry until to-morrow,’ ” 
interpreted Emma. 

“ Ha, ha! ” laughed Chunky, and the Overland 
Riders joined in the laughter. 

“ You savvy plenty to-mollow. Me savvy glub 
to-mollow,” added Woo, chuckling to himself. 

“ He speaks hog Latin quite fluently, doesn’t 
he? ” observed Stacy solemnly. 

“ You leave it to Smith. I found Smith, you 
know,” reminded Hippy Wingate pridefully. 

“ Hi-lee, hi-lo! ” sang the Chinaman, continu¬ 
ing with his work, while the Overlanders, having 
finished their supper, gathered about the camp¬ 
fire, and forgot the heat of the California night in 
its cheerful glow. It seemed good to them to be 
out in the open once more, to be where they were 
obliged to depend almost wholly on their own 
resourcefulness for their food and lodging, if not 
for their lives, for they were going into perilous 
places, places fraught with dangers. 

Woo, having completed his work, and having 
hung his frying-pans and other equipment to 
nails driven in a tree, sat down on his haunches 


96 


GRACE HARLOWE 


by the fire, and, after composing himself, lost his 
long yellow fingers in the mysterious depths of his 
wide-flowing sleeves. 

“ Me savvy plenty fine night,” he observed, 
gazing blissfully up into the sky. “ You savvy 
plenty fine night, too? ” he asked, looking soul- 
fully at Miss Briggs. 

“ I savvy the same as you do, Woo,” replied 
Elfreda soberly. “ It is going to be a fine night 
for sleep, but I think the air will be cooler 
later on.” 

Woo nodded wisely, and Stacy glanced up with 
quickened interest. 

“ Are we going to sleep on the ground? ” 
he asked. 

“ Yes,” answered Tom Gray. “ You ought to 
be used to that.” 

“ Are there snakes up here? ” questioned the fat 
boy apprehensively. 

“ Me savvy plenty snake,” the guide informed 
them. 

“ What kind? ” wondered Emma. 

“ Lattlers.” 

“ He means rattlers,” interpreted Grace 
Harlowe. 

“ Oh, wow! ” muttered the fat boy. “ I think 
Til climb a tree.” 

“ You will take pot luck on the ground with the 
rest of us,” answered Tom rather severely. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


97 


“ Me savvy lattler in blanket once,” declared 
the guide. “ Lattler sleep plenty in blanket. 
Go away in molning. Lattler no hurt China¬ 
man,” explained Woo. 

Signs of uneasiness were observable among the 
girls of the Overland party, and in Stacy Brown 
as well. Tom declared that Woo was “ drawing 
the long bow,” and said that he never had heard 
anything of the sort about the Sierra trails. 

“ I have,” announced Hippy. “ There are 
snakes all about here, but we are not going to 
lose any sleep over it. Besides, Stacy is getting 
the wiggles.” 

“ Yes. For goodness sake, drop the subject. 
You folks give me the willyjiggs,” shivered Emma 
Dean. 

“ I’m not getting the wiggles,” protested Stacy. 
“ I reckon I’m not afraid of anything that walks.” 

“ We were not speaking of that kind,” reminded 
Nora. “ We were speaking of reptiles.” 

“ How long do you figure that it will take us 
to get into the High Country? ” asked Grace by 
way of changing the subject. 

“ Me savvy eight days,” answered Woo. “ You 
savvy mebby pony him no climb? ” 

“ Yes, they can, too,” objected Stacy in¬ 
dignantly. “ Our ponies can go where a bird can* 
Don’t you forget that.” 

“ Me savvy plenty snake, too,” added Woo. 

7 - Grace Harlowe in the High Sierras 


98 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ For goodness sake, stop that snake conversa¬ 
tion/’ cried Emma. “ I shall surely dream about 
snakes if you go on that way.” 

Smith grinned happily, then proceeded, with 
the utmost composure, to relate experiences with 
big rattlers in the Sierras. He told of waking up 
in the morning and finding one coiled in his 
blanket, under his arm, or, perhaps, nestled close 
to his neck for warmth from the chill night air 
of the higher altitudes, until Stacy w r as on the 
verge of a panic, and Emma Dean was shivering. 

“ Mr. Smith,” she said, after regarding him in¬ 
quiringly for some moments. “ Have you ever 
had any experience with transmigration of 
thought? ” she asked. 

“ Tlans — tlans — ” 

“ Transmigration,” assisted Hippy. 

“ Tlansmiglation! Les. Me savvy. Me savvy 
one time big hunter shoot one in mountains. 
Woo savvy bad medicine and run away,” 
chuckled the Chinaman. 

“ I reckon that will be about all for you this 
evening, Emma,” observed Hippy Wingate, amid 
peals of laughter from the Overland girls. 

Tom got out the bedding, consisting of a 
blanket apiece, and a tarpaulin for a cover, while 
Woo busied himself with cutting browse which he 
placed on the ground and laid blankets on it. It 
was not a particularly soft bed at that. While 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


99 


they were preparing their beds, Stacy poked about 
with a stick, covering a radius of several rods. 

“ What in the world are you doing? ” demanded 
Nora Wingate. 

“ He is beating up the landscape to drive out 
the serpents/’ answered Emma. “ You are a 
tenderfoot, aren’t you? ” 

“ I don’t like the fleas to get next to my skin/’ 
explained the fat boy lamely. “ They tell me 
that these California fleas are awful.” 

“ Were I as tough as you, I do not believe I 
should wmrry about a little thing like that,” re¬ 
torted Emma. 

Stacy made no reply, but poked the fire sav¬ 
agely, then piled on more wood, occupying all the 
time he could before preparing for bed, and the 
others had turned in long before he was ready. 

“ Stop that fussing and come to bed! ” ordered 
Hippy. 

“ Yes, for goodness sake, do,” added Miss 
Briggs. “ Woo Smith, aren’t you ready to turn 
in?” 

“ Les. Me savvy glub first.” 

“ You might fetch Uncle Hip and myself a bite 
to eat while you are on the food question,” sug¬ 
gested Stacy. 

“ No food until breakfast,” admonished Grace. 

After idling about and grumbling for fifteen 
minutes more, Stacy finally crawled in under 



) * 
) 3 5 


100 


GRACE HARLOWE 


the tarpaulin, uttering dismal groans and com¬ 
plaints about the hardness of his bed. All were 
lying with feet towards the fire. The smoke and 
the blaze drove away insects, and the warmth was 
pleasant, even though the night was sultry, and 
it was not long after that when the Overlanders 
dropped off to sleep. 

Woo, chuckling to himself and muttering, crept 
cautiously to the men's side of the fire, surveyed 
the layout, then crawled in under the tarpaulin 
beside Stacy Brown. A few moments later, 
Hippy, who lay next to Stacy, was aroused by the 
fat boy’s mutterings. Stacy was dreaming about 
snakes. Hippy knew because he heard his fat 
nephew say, “ Snakes!” 

“ I’ll teach that boy a lesson and make him 
dream of something worth while,” decided Hippy. 
Rising on one elbow, Lieutenant Wingate glanced 
over the row of heads just visible above the top 
of the tarpaulin. He could barely make out their 
features in the faint light, but when his gaze 
finally came to rest on the face of the sleeping 
Chinaman, Hippy Wingate was suddenly pos¬ 
sessed of a brilliant idea. Woo lay flat on his 
back, both hands snugly tucked into the wide- 
flowing sleeves. 

“ I have it,” chuckled Hippy. 

Reaching over Chunky very cautiously, he 
lifted the long black queue of the guide, held it 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


101 


for a moment, then softly dropped it across the 
face of the sleeping, snoring Stacy. Chunky 
muttered and stirred restlessly. Hippy waited, 
then began slowly drawing the queue over Stacy’s 
face. 

The fat boy awakened suddenly, but he did 
not move at once, for he was fairly paralyzed with 
terror. Something cold and soft was wriggling 
over his face. Uttering a mighty yell, Stacy 
grabbed that wriggling queue, at the same time 
giving it a tug. 

It was now Woo Smith’s turn to yell, and yell 
he did, as he struggled and fought to free himself. 

Stacy, hurling the thing from him, leaped to- 
his feet, howling lustily. He stepped on Woo and 
went over backwards, landing on Hippy’s stom¬ 
ach, struggling and fighting, and finally finishing 
up by fastening his fingers in Tom Gray’s hair. 

The camp was instantly in an uproar, and none 
was more loud in his protestations than Hippy 
Wingate himself. 


102 


GRACE HARLOWE 


CHAPTER X 

“ BOOTS AND SADDLES ” 

61 £7"^ TOP that noise! ” shouted Tom Gray. 

Emma uttered a frightened cry and 
springing up, started to run. 

“ Come back! We are all right,” commanded 
Miss Briggs. 

“ Oh, what is it? Hippy, my darlin’, are you 
all right? ” wailed Nora. 

“ Snakes! Snakes! Oh, wow! ” howled Stacy 
Brown. 

All hands had turned out in a hurry, and Woo 
Smith was dancing about chattering and fondling 
his head at the base of his queue. 

“ Snakes! Where?” cried Emma, 

“ It crawled right over my face,” declared Stacy. 
“ I grabbed it and hurled it from me, and think 
I must have flung it against a tree and killed it. 
Uncle Hip, go see if you can find it.” 

“ You poor fish! ” chortled Hippy Wingate. 

“ You — you must be a good thrower, for there 
isn’t a tree near where you slept,” declared Emma. 
“ That’s so, there isn’t,” admitted Chunky. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


103 


“Well, anyhow, it must have been a stone that 
I threw the snake against.” 

“ What you did do, young man, was to fall on 
me with your full weight,” rebuked Hippy. “ Oh, 
why did I ever ask you to come with us? ” 

“ That’s what I have been wondering,” agreed 
Emma. 

“ Please, please quiet down, good people,” 
begged Grace laughingly. “ Suppose we find out 
what actually did occur. Does anyone know? ” 

“ Yes. I know. A great big snake crawled 
over me,” averred Stacy. 

“ With all due respect to you, Stacy Brown, I 
don’t believe it,” differed Elfreda. 

“ He ate too much and had the nightmare,” 
suggested Miss Dean. 

“ It wasn’t a mare. I tell vou it was a snake,” 
insisted Stacy. “ I guess I know what I am talk¬ 
ing about, and don’t you try to make me believe 
anything different. I won’t! I know what I 
believe, and I believe what I know, and that’s 
the end of it.” 

“ We 11, sir, what is the matter with you? ” de¬ 
manded Tom, facing the excited Chinaman. 

“ Mr. Smith has the willyjiggs, too,” answered 
Emma. 

Woo chattered and caressed his head. 

“ Me savvy somebody pull queue. Me savvy 
head almost come off. Ouch! ” 


104 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ Just a moment. Just a moment,” begged 
Grace. “ You say someone pulled your queue? ” 

“ Les.” 

“ This demands further investigation,” spoke 
up Hippy. “The question now before this tri¬ 
bunal is, who pulled the Chinaman’s queue. 
Emma Dean, did you pull Honorable Smith’s 
queue?” 

“ I did not,” retorted Emma indignantly. 

“ All right, all right; don’t get all heated up 
about it. I take it that none of the other ladies 
tried to scalp our guide. How about you, Stacy? ” 

Stacy declared that he didn’t know anything 
about it, and cared less, and Tom Gray said the 
idea that he had done such a thing was pre¬ 
posterous. 

“ We will leave it to Smith,” announced Hippy. 
“ Woo, did Mr. Brown try to pull your halter 
off?” 

“ Les, les. Me savvy him pull queue. Him 
neally pull head off. Woof! ” 

“ I begin to understand. Ladies and gentle¬ 
men, the mystery is solved. The Honorable Woo 
Smith’s queue got on Stacy’s face and Stacy 
thought it was a snake. You see how easy it is 
to be carried away by one’s imagination. Stacy, 
if you raise further disturbance in this outfit I 
shall require you to roost by yourself. I, for one, 
at least, need my rest.” 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 105 

“ II Woo will get out I’ll keep quiet,” answered 
Stacy. 

“ Don’t wolly till to-mollow,” advised the 
Oriental, pawing about like an animal, in 
search of a suitable place on which to lie down 
and sleep. 

No further disturbance occurred that night, 
though Stacy refused to turn in until he had seen 
Woo lie down at some distance from him, and at 
daybreak the Overlanders were aroused by the 
“ Hi-lee, hi-lo! ” of the guide, who was out gather¬ 
ing wood for the breakfast fire. 

“ Come, folks. Wash and get busy,” urged 
Hippy. “ Who is the wrangler this morning? ” 

“ It is Stacy’s turn, I believe,” replied Tom 
Gray. 

“ I don’t want to wrangle. I’m too sleepy and 
too cold,” protested the boy. 

“ That makes no difference. There is to be no 
shirking in this outfit,” answered Uncle Hippy. 

The wrangler is the man who goes out in the 
morning to round up the horses. Following the 
custom in the mountains, the Overlanders had 
turned out all but two of the ponies, permitting 
the stock to graze where it pleased through the 
night. The pack animals had been hobbled. It 
now became Stacy Brown’s duty to find the ani¬ 
mals, and drive the herd into camp. 

“ I don’t hear the cow bells. The animals must 


106 


GRACE HARLOWE 


have gotten away quite a distance/’ suggested 
Emma mischievously. 

Stacy took all the time he could in getting 
ready, and, as a result, by the time he was ready 
to start, breakfast was nearly ready to be served. 

“ Don’t I eat first? ” he questioned anxiously. 

“ Certainly not. Wranglers always go out for 
the horses before breakfast,” reminded Emma. 

Chunky threw himself into the saddle and gal¬ 
loped away at a reckless pace, but his was a long 
chase, for the ponies had wandered some distance 
from camp. They were lying down in a glade 
and did not move or make a sound when the boy 
rode past them. 

Stacy had followed their trail out, but, suddenly 
discovering that he had lost it, he turned about 
and went back to pick it up. This time he dis¬ 
covered the animals. 

“So! There you are, eh?” he jeered, regard¬ 
ing the horses resentfully. “ Thought you would 
play me a smart trick, did you? I’ll be even with 
you for that.” 

After much floundering about, the white pack 
pony, Kitty, finally got up grunting and groaning 
dismally, then Stacy began removing the hobbles 
from their legs. Kitty gave him the most trouble, 
the white mare insisting on grabbing Chunky by 
the trousers every time he stooped to unfasten 
the hobbles. This continued until Stacy finally 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


107 


lost his patience, and, getting a switch, he gave 
Kitty a good sharp touching-up. Finally, having 
completed his task, he turned their heads towards 
camp and mounted his own saddle pony. 

“Shoo! Go on, you lazy louts! Think I am 
going to eat cold grub, just out of consideration 
for you? ” 

It was shortly after that that the Overlanders 
in camp heard the tinkle of the bells on two of 
the pack animals, and when Stacy rode into camp 
the party was half way through breakfast. Slip¬ 
ping from his saddle, Stacy started at a run for 
breakfast, flinging a set of hobbles at the cook as 
he passed. 

“Stacy! You are becoming a very violent 
young man,” smiled Grace. 

“ Becoming? ” spoke up Emma Dean. “ It is 
my opinion that he always has been. No one 
could acquire his manners in so short a time.” 

“ Association sometimes plays strange freaks 
with one,” retorted Stacy. “ Say, Uncle Hip. 
That white mare is a terror. She actually hid so 
that I should not see her; then, when I finally 
found her, she tried to eat me up. The brown 
one is the laziest thing I ever saw. We ought to 
call her the Idler, she’s so lazy.” 

“ Good! ” cried Elfreda. “ Idler she shall be, 
with the permission of our Captain, Grace Har- 
lowe.” 


108 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“Plow about the other one?” asked Stacy. 

“ The black? ” questioned Tom. 

“ Yes. He is always stumbling and getting 
into difficulties,” said Chunky. 

“ We will name him Calamity,” said Grace. 

“ That is what I was going to name the China¬ 
man,” grumbled the fat boy. 

“ The wrangler always attends to the packing, 
you know,” reminded Elfreda after they had 
finished breakfast. 

“ This wrangler doesn’t,” answered Chunky. 

“ Of course, in view of the fact that this is our 
first morning out, and that you are still a little 
green — ” teased Miss Briggs. 

“ His natural color,” interjected Emma. 

“ I will help you,” finished Hippy. “ By the 
way, you need not throw the diamond hitch 
around the packs this morning. Kitty has a soft 
pack, and the square hitch will answer very well, 
provided you make it good and tight.” 

“ Oh, I’ll make it tight, all right. I’ll lash it 
so tightly that the old horse won’t be able to 
breathe. I owe her a grudge, anyway,” declared 
Stacy. “ Did you folks know that I learned a 
new hitch at Gardner? ” 

“ Impossible! ” exclaimed Emma. 

“ It is called ‘ The Lone Packer/ ” continued 
Stacy, unheeding the interruption. “ It is even 
harder to learn to tie than is the diamond hitch. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


109 


For a load of small articles it is supposed to be 
the best in use. The particular feature about it 
is that it pulls the pack away from the animal’s 
sides and prevents chafing.” 

“ Here, here! That isn’t the way to throw a 
square hitch,” objected Hippy, hurrying over to 
Stacy who was laboring with the white mare’s 
pack, Kitty standing with all four feet braced, 
groaning dismally. “ What have you done to 
her? ” 

“I? Nothing. She thinks she’s smart.” 

Hippy regarded the pack animal keenly, then, 
stepping up, he placed his hat on top of her pack. 
The mare flinched and groaned. It was a test 
that Hippy had seen practiced on lazy horses in 
France during the war. 

“So that’s it, eh?” he chuckled. “She is 
soldiering, but never mind. We will take all that 
out of her.” 

“ That is what I told Kitty this morning. I 
promised her that she should get all that was 
coming to her. Stand up, you lazy-bones! ” com¬ 
manded Stacy sharply, at the same time giving 
the mare a slap on the stomach. Kitty instantly 
retaliated by taking a chunk out of the boy’s 
sleeve, and a wee bit of skin with it. 

Stacy howled and jerked away. His face 
flushed, and he raised a hand to strike back. 

“Don’t do that!” rebuked Grace. “Never, 


110 


GRACE HARLOWE 


never strike a horse on the head! It is a sure 
way to spoil an animal. And never punish a 
horse when you are in anger. Should an animal 
need punishing, punish him humanely, but trim 
him so thoroughly that you never may be called 
upon to repeat the performance.” 

“ But, she bit me,” protested Stacy. 

“ Forget it! ” laughed Grace. 

“ I should say that the poor beast is already 
sufficiently punished after biting Stacy Brown,” 
observed Emma meekly. 

“ Be firm, but gentle,” continued Grace. 
“ Kitty is in just the right mood to be spoiled by 
rough treatment.” 

Stacy was not over-gentle. He jerked the 
white mare about, shook his fist in her face and 
announced in a loud tone what he would do to 
her did she ever again try to make a meal out 
of his arm. 

In the meantime Hippy, with an interested 
group of Overland girls observing, was putting 
the final touches to the packing, making the 
lead-ropes fast, using a knot that he had learned, 
by which, in case of trouble, one can reach from 
his saddle and jerk the pack free by a single pull 
on a loose end of a rope. 

All was now ready for the start. Woo Smith, 
■with a final look backward, started ahead singing 
blithely. Hippy whistled “ Boots and Saddles.” 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


111 


The Overland ponies knew the signal, but of 
course the pack-horses did not, though they soon 
would learn that it was the command to get under 
way. When a short distance from camp, the 
pack animals straggled off and sought their own 
trails near the one that was followed by the riders, 
Hippy now and then shouting to Woo to keep 
them up, for the Idler was lagging behind, though 
she had started out in the lead of the pack-horses. 
Woo Smith’s “ Hi-lee, hi-lo! ” sung in the 
Oriental’s shrill, knife-edge voice kept time for 
the plodding ponies, that were now climbing up 
a steep grade. The Overland party were well 
started on their way to the high places of this 
wild, rugged country, where genuine adventure 
awaited them. 


112 


GRACE HARLOWE 


CHAPTER XI 


PONIES GET A BAD FRIGHT 

P and up traveled the Overland party, 



the ponies here and there being obliged 


' to zigzag back and forth, picking their 
way like mountain goats. 

The members of the party were keenly inter¬ 
ested in watching the pack-horses to see how they 
acted under these trying circumstances, and, to 
their satisfaction, found that the animals were 
thoroughly familiar with their work. The saddle 
horses of the Overlanders, they had seen in action 
before, and knew what they could do. Now and 
then the white mare would poise with all four feet 
bunched as if she were about to make a leap into 
space, then slowly one foot would reach out for 
a footing. Having found it, the other fore foot 
would follow, then the hind feet, Kitty all the 
time groaning dismally and wheezing like a leaky 
valve on a locomotive. 

Ordinarily, horses on a trail make an effort to 
keep within sight of each other, but in this in¬ 
stance Idler, the brown mare, did not appear to 



IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


113 


care whether she were within or out of sight of 
her companions. Hippy, when they made the 
noon luncheon camp, searched his kit for an ar¬ 
ticle that he had brought along, thinking it might 
prove useful. He did not let the others see what 
it was, but secreted it on his person. This article 
was a pea-shooter, and he had the peas to use 
in it, too. 

When the party moved on after luncheon, 
Hippy dropped behind to better observe the pack- 
horses. Idler loafed, as usual. Hippy tried the 
pea-shooter on her, and the brown mare jumped 
at a critical point. All four feet went out from 
under her, and she landed on her back, greatly 
to the detriment of her pack, and, had it not been 
that the pack was very strong, the outfit she car¬ 
ried would have been ruined. 

“ Oh, the clumsy beast! ” groaned Grace Har- 
lowe. 

“ What ails the silly creature? ” cried Emma. 

“She has thrown a fit,” Stacy informed her. 

Hippy, whose scheme had exceeded his expecta¬ 
tions, sprang from his saddle and ran to the 
fallen horse, which, by this time, had rolled over 
on her side. One foot further and Idler would 
have slipped down along the rocks a hundred feet 
or more. 

“Stacy! Sit on her head! Fetch me a rope, 
someone,” urged Lieutenant Wingate. 

8 - Grace Harlowe in the High Sierra* 



114 


GRACE HARLOWE 


Passing the rope about the animal, they threw 
it around a tree above the trail, then began re¬ 
moving the pack, which Tom had loosened by 
pulling on the pack-rope. Relieved of the weight 
on her back, Idler, aided by a pull on the rope, 
struggled to her feet, and, after no little effort, 
she was gotten back on the narrow trail. About 
a hundred feet above them, perched on a pinnacle 
of rock, sat the Honorable Woo Smith, hands lost 
in his flowing sleeves. 

“ Hi-lee, hi-lo! hi-lee, hi-lo! ” sang the guide. 

Stacy shied a pebble at him. 

“ Will you stop that ‘ hi-lee ’ business? ” he 
demanded. “ It is lucky for you that you are 
above instead of below me, or I’d roll a rock down 
on you.” 

“ Let the cook alone! ” ordered Tom Gray. “ I 
don’t understand what caused that beast to lose 
her footing so suddenly.” 

Hippy Wingate, however, understood only too 
well, but he did not think best to enlighten his 
companions, who might have found unpleasant 
remarks to make. A full hour was lost in getting 
the brown mare and her pack in condition to pro¬ 
ceed, then the journey was resumed. 

Later in the day, Lieutenant Wingate found 
occasion to use his pea-shooter again. The first 
effort in that direction had proved so successful 
that he could not resist the second shining oppor- 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


115 


tunity that presented itself. This time Stacy 
was the victim. 

Stacy was asleep in his saddle at the time, his 
pony moping along with head close to the 
ground, when Hippy sent a pea straight at the 
tender flank of the animal. 

The pony woke up suddenly, and then another 
pea hit it. The fat boy’s mount bucked beauti¬ 
fully, and Chunky took a long flight, landing 
head-first in a wild rose bush, howling and strug¬ 
gling, not rightly knowing what had occurred. 

“Here, here! What’s going on?” shouted 
Tom, turning in his saddle. 

“ Stacy has come a cropper. Oh, please do it 
again, Stacy. It was beautiful,” urged Emma 
enthusiastically. 

“I — I fell off,” wailed the boy, raising a very 
red face above the top of the rose bush. “I — I 
transmigrated, didn’t I, Emma? ” Stacy grinned 
sheepishly. “ I’ll trim the beast for that.” 

“ You will not,” laughed Hippy. “ The pony 
was not to blame in the least,” 

As a matter of fact, the pony appeared to be 
even more amazed at the mishap than were the 
Overlanders themselves. The excitement ended, 
and the party once more under way, Chunky be¬ 
gan to ponder over what had occurred, and the 
more he pondered the more convinced did he be¬ 
come that someone had played a trick on him. 


116 


GRACE HARLOWE 


He eyed each member of the party narrowly, 
finally regarding Uncle Hip with suspicion. 

“ I wonder if he did it? ” muttered the boy. 

The trail was growing more difficult and peril¬ 
ous with the moments, and the Riders were 
making not more than a mile-and-a-half an hour, 
and at one point it curved so sharply that the 
riders in the lead, in this instance Tom and Stacy, 
were directly above Lieutenant Wingate, travel¬ 
ing in the opposite direction. 

“Hulloa! What’s Uncle Hip up to now? ” 
wondered Stacy, casting suspicious glances at him. 
Chunky saw something glisten in the hands of 
Uncle Hip; then he saw him place the glistening 
object to his lips and blow. Miss Kitty snorted 
and jumped, after which she quickened her pace. 

“ So, that’s the game, is it? ” grinned Stacy 
Brown. “ I reckon I know now w T hat made me 
come a cropper into the rose bush. Uncle Hip 
used a pea-shooter on my pony. Wait till I get 
an opportunity! I’ll make a show of him for 
that.” 

Tom had halted at the summit, and, shading 
his eyes, gazed off over the scene before him. 

“ What do you call that hole down there? ” 
questioned Elfreda. 

“ That? That is a box canyon,” replied Hippy. 

“ Are we going down there? ” wondered Nora. 

“ Yes.” 


IN, THE HIGH SIERRAS 


117 


“ We’re going to do a giant leap for life to the 
bottom of the box in a few moments/’ Stacy 
Brown informed her. 

Tom removed his sombrero and mopped his 
forehead. 

“ I see nothing that looks like a trail/’ : he de¬ 
clared. “Woo, are you positive that there is a 
safe way to get down? ” 

Woo bobbed his head vigorously. 

“ Him plenty good way. You no savvy tlail? ” 

Tom shook his head. 

“Me savvy tlail. You come. Me show.” 

“ Never mind, Woo. We are going to find that 
trail for ourselves. This isn’t the first time we 
have been in the mountains. You watch us,” 
answered Lieutenant Wingate, 

Hippy crawled down the mountainside for some 
distance, working along, first to the right, then 
to the left. He observed, at the same time, that 
the wall on the opposite side of the canyon had 
a more gradual slope. Climbing the other side 
would be easier than the one they were now going 
down. There was no trace of a trail on the 
Overlanders’ side, but Hippy found a way to 
get down. 

“ Well? ” questioned Grace, upon his return. 

“ We can make it.” 

“ Of course we can make it. We shall have 
to jump, though,” said Stacy. 


118 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ Suppose you jump first, then, if the jumping 
is good, perhaps we may follow/’ suggested 
Emma. 

“ Jump? Why, you wouldn’t dare jump off 
from a silver dollar,” declared Chunky. 

“ Produce one and see whether I dare or not,” 
offered Emma. 

“I — I don’t think I have one,” stammered 
Stacy amid laughter. 

“ All ready,” announced Lieutenant Wingate, 
mounting and starting down the sharp incline. 
The others watched him for a few moments, then 
followed, the pack animals taking their places 
without being urged, not at all disturbed over the 
perilous descent. Hippy was now taking a zig¬ 
zag course, which was the only safe way, unless 
one preferred to adopt Stacy’s suggestion and 
jump. To look at the mountain, traveling down 
its steep side would seem to the novice an im¬ 
possibility. However, ponies familiar with 
mountain climbing are sure-footed and unafraid, 
and do some remarkable climbing, frequently 
going where a tenderfoot would hesitate to crawl 
on hands and knees. 

Here and there were small trees, with an occa¬ 
sional growth of bushes, which afforded more or 
less protection from a bad fall, but on other parts 
of the trail the rocks sloped away for hundreds 
of feet, lying smooth and glaring in the bright 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


119 


afternoon sunlight. The Overland Riders took 
the descent without any display of nervousness, 
but Kitty, the pack-horse, groaned and grunted 
all the way down. One would imagine that she 
was suffering agonies, but it was simply habit 
with her, and she got no sympathy, though now 
and then she did feel the sting of a pebble that 
one or another of the party hurled at her. 

Lieutenant Wingate was making much more 
rapid progress than his companions, he being 
eager to reach the bottom before the light failed 
them, for it would not do at all to be caught on 
the side of the mountain after dark. A shout 
from below told them that he had reached the 
valley. It was answered by another shout from 
above, then a “ Hi-lee, hi-lo! ” in the high-pitched 
voice of the guide. A stone came bumping down 
not far from Woo. 

“ Stacy, did you throw that stone? ” shouted 
Hippy. 

“ I did.” 

“Stop it! You might hit someone.” 

“ I want to hit someone. I want to wing that 
song-bird, and I’ll do it yet,” threatened Chunky. 

The safe arrival of the rest of the Overland 
party at the bottom of the pit put a stop to 
further gaiety at the expense of the guide. They 
found themselves in a valley about a quarter of 
a mile in width and of unknown length. The 


120 


GRACE HARLOWE 


place was a meadow in the heart of the moun¬ 
tains, carpeted with the brown California grass 
that did not appeal to the appetites of the horses, 
and as soon as the animals were turned out they 
made haste to climb the opposite slope in search 
of the succulent greens that they seemed to know 
they should find up there. 

In the meantime, preparations for making 
camp and getting supper were going on system¬ 
atically down in the canyon. It was an ideal 
place for camping, sheltered from storm, and from 
sunshine during the early and late hours of the 
day. A clear, cold brook rippled merrily on their 
side of the canyon, its waters leaping from the 
black rocks or lying in sombre bank-shadowed 
pools; and, despite the apparent dryness of the 
landscape, gorgeous bush-flowers bloomed, filling 
the air with their perfume, the valley farther 
down being a riot of varied colors where the 
stream had left its banks and spread out over the 
lower land. 

“ Oh, girls, isn’t this fairyland? ” breathed 
Elfreda Briggs. 

“ Wonderful! ” agreed Grace. 

“ All but the fairies,” answered Stacy. 

“We have a gnome,” suggested Emma, glanc¬ 
ing at Chunky. “ Fairies don’t stuff themselves. 
They live on atmosphere.” 

“This fairy doesn’t live on atmosphere,” re- 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


121 


torted Stacy. “ He takes his belt off, if necessary, 
too.” 

“ I would suggest that you take it off now and 
get to work. We have plenty of it to do,” re¬ 
minded Tom Gray. 

All hands turned to, to help the cook, for they 
were hungry, and it was natural that they should 
be, for climbing mountains in the High Country 
is hard, grilling work. 

Supper was a busy rather than a lively affair, 
but after supper the Overlanders found then- 
tongues and were soon engaged in good-natured 
raillery, but they were quite ready to turn in when 
Tom Gray whistled “ taps.” This time there was 
no hesitancy on the part of anyone to sleeping 
on the ground, and they dropped off to sleep with 
the tinkling of the bells of the pack-horses in their 
ears, the rich perfumes of flowers in their nostrils, 
their senses lulled pleasantly by the song of the 
locusts and strange insects that none remembered 
ever to have heard of before. 

The camp was awake shortly after daybreak. 
Once more Stacy Brown had to be urged forth to 
wrangle the horses. He protested loudly when 
Elfreda pointed to the opposite slope, which 
Chunky must climb, for the animals were no¬ 
where in sight. 

“ I suppose I might as well go out. I always 
get the fag-end of the stick,” grumbled Stacy. 


122 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ Never mind, Chunky. I’ll fetch the horses,” 
offered Tom. 

“ No, no. I just wanted to say something,” 
returned Stacy, hastily stirring himself into ac¬ 
tivity and jumping on the bare back of his pony. 
No sooner was he on than he was off again, for the 
pony had never been ridden without a saddle, and 
promptly bucked when his owner mounted. 
Stacy landed flat on his back in the campfire, 
sending up a shower of sparks and smoke, and it 
was only the quick action of Nora Wingate 
that saved him from being burned. As it 
was, his clothing was smoking when he was 
dragged out. Hippy and Tom put Stacy’s fire 
out by grabbing the boy up and throwing him in 
the creek, where Stacy rolled over whooping and 
howling his disapproval of the entire proceeding. 

“ You should have known better than to try 
to ride that pony without a saddle,” rebuked 
Hippy. 

Stacy turned angrily on his now meek-eyed 
pony. 

“ You donkey! Oh, you doddering idiot! ” he 
raged, shaking a fist at the animal. “ You’ll pay 
for that! You’ll rue the day and the minute 
that you bucked me off your back. Where is 
my saddle? ” 

“ Never mind. I will get the ponies,” grinned 
Hippy. “You aren’t fit.” 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


123 


“ I am. I’m always fit. I’ll get ’em myself.” 

“Be sure to bring back the donkey,” teased 
Emma. 

Stacy cinched on his saddle before starting, 
and this time the little animal offered no protest, 
but galloped away as docile as could be desired. 
After he had left them, the Overlanders had a 
good laugh at his expense, then began packing 
in preparation for the day’s journey. 

The Overlanders finally began to wonder what 
had become of Stacy, for he had been absent 
much longer than seemed necessary, then, all at 
once they heard a yell on the opposite side of 
the canyon. 

“There he is! He is in trouble again/’ cried 
Tom, starting for his own pony. 

“See him come! He will break his neck,” 
worried Nora. 

Tom halted at his pony’s side, for he had dis¬ 
covered something else. Right on the heels of 
Stacy’s mount came the saddle-ponies and the 
pack-horses. The latter, being hobbled, were 
hopping like kangaroos, making long leaps, cover¬ 
ing a great deal of ground in each leap and turn¬ 
ing their heads to glance back with almost every 
jump. 

“ What can be the matter? ” wondered Grace, 
anxiously watching the descent of the fat boy. 
Every second she expected to see him come a 


124 


GRACE HARLOWE 


cropper and fall the remaining distance down the 
mountainside, but Chunky did nothing of the 
sort. He stuck tightly to his saddle, now and 
then casting apprehensive glances back at the 
horses that were tearing along in his wake. 

Lieutenant Wingate, suddenly surmising what 
the trouble was about, ran for his rifle. 

“ Wha—at is it? ” stammered Emma Dean. 

“ They are stampeding. Something is chasing 
them. I think I know what it is,” answered 
Hippy, darting across the canyon, clearing rocks 
and other obstructions in a series of lively leaps, 
the others of his party standing gaping, wonder¬ 
ing, some of them a little fearful, especially for 
the safety of the panic-stricken Chunky. 


IN .THE HIGH SIERRAS 


125 


CHAPTER XII 

AMID THE GIANT SEQUOIAS 

S TACY swept past, flinging back some un¬ 
intelligible words, the ponies still tearing 
along after him. The Overland Riders 
shouted with laughter at the funny antics of the 
hobbled pack-horses. Kitty had forgotten to 
groan, and Idler was imbued with a new spirit 
of activity. 

For the moment the outfit had forgotten all 
about Lieutenant Wingate. When finally they 
thought to look for him he was nowhere in sight. 
“ Hippy! Oh, Hippy! ” hailed Tom Gray. 
No answer came back from Hippy, who was 
stalking the mysterious something that had 
stampeded the ponies. 

“ What is it? ” cried the Overlanders in one 
voice, as Stacy rode back to them wide-eyed. 

“ I don’t know. It was something big and 
awful. I couldn’t see all of it, but it looked to 
me like an elephant. Maybe it was a Bengal 
tiger, but I didn’t wait to see. If I had waited, 
the ponies would have run right over me. When 


126 


GRACE HARLOWE 


I saw them coming I threw on the high-speed 
lever and lit out for home. I transmigrated. 
Where is my rifle? I am going back after that 
beast, whatever it may be and — ” 

“ There goes Hippy across that open space,” 
cried Grace, pointing. 

“ Yes, and he is after something,” added Tom. 

“ Look! Oh, look! ” cried Emma. 

All eyes were turned in the direction indicated 
by Grace. They saw a dark object moving across 
the open space towards Hippy, then saw the 
lieutenant raise his rifle and fire. Still the ob¬ 
ject came on. 

“ It’s a bear! Hippy’s missed! ” groaned Tom. 

“ I’ll wager my hat that Uncle Hippy didn’t 
miss,” answered Stacy. “ He never misses — 
when he hits.” 

Hippy raised his rifle and fired again. 

“ That was a hit! ” cried Grace. 

Stacy galloped his pony up the other side of 
the mountain. 

“ Came near making a meal of you, didn’t he, 
Uncle Hip? ” called Stacy as he came up with 
Lieutenant Wingate. 

Hippy shook his head. 

“ I tried to shoot him between the eyes, but 
he dodged as I pulled the trigger. Next time I 
couldn’t do any fine aiming because the bear was 
too close. Do you see what he is — a big cin- 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


127 


namon bear? I am going to have that skin. 
Go back and tell them to wait until I finish this 
job, and that we are going to have bear steak 
for supper to-night.” 

Stacy galloped back with the message, then 
Tom rode out to assist in the skinning and to 
select such meat as he wished to carry with them. 
The bearskin proved to be very heavy, but Hippy 
insisted on taking it along, first, however, treat¬ 
ing the skin so that it would keep until they 
reached a place where the curing and tanning 
might be continued. 

Woo, upon observing the bear skin and the 
steaks taken from the animal, lapsed into song, 
which Stacy pretended not to hear. It irritated 
Chunky to listen to that “Hi-lee, hi-lo! ” and 
put him into a fighting humor. 

An hour after their delayed start they topped 
the rise on the opposite side of the canyon and 
paused to gaze over the peaks and rugged moun¬ 
tain-tops that lay before them in a vast panorama. 
Over yonder in the clouds hung the snow-capped 
peaks of the High Sierras, now and then taking 
on a purple shade from some tinted cloud. 

“ It doesn’t seem possible that we shall be able 
to make those mountains with our ponies, does 
it? ” wondered Elfreda. 

“ Are we going there? ” demanded Stacy. 

“ I believe so.’’ 


128 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ Hm-m-m-m! ” 

“ Are you getting cold feet already? ” teased 
Emma. 

“ Not yet, but I expect to when I get in those 
chilly looking snow-caps off yonder,” answered 
Stacy quickly. “ This life is just one ridge after 
another.” 

They had mounted ridges, and crossed broad 
and narrow valleys for some time without incident 
and the steady creak of saddle straps and girths 
was becoming monotonous, when suddenly 
Grace’s pony jumped clear of the ground with all 
four feet and began to back. Grace Harlowe, 
instantly understanding, called “ Look out! ” and 
whirled her pony about. 

“ What is the trouble, Grace? ” called Tom, 
who was riding farther to the rear. 

“ A snake! I heard it, but do not know where 
it is.” 

“ Stay back. I will find him and dispatch 
him,” shouted Hippy, hurrying forward. 

“ Send him a message for me while you are 
about it. Tell him Emma Dean wishes him to 
transmigrate,” chortled Stacy. 

Just then Lieutenant Wingate discovered the 
snake, and raising his rifle he aimed it over the 
head of his pony for a few seconds, then pulled 
the trigger. 

u Did you get him? ” shouted Nora. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


129 


“ Of course he did. My Uncle Hip never 
misses anything/' declared Stacy. 

“No. Not even food/' added Emma. 

“You may all get off. I am going to skin 
the reptile. He is a fine specimen," announced 
Lieutenant Wingate. “ I propose to make a hat 
band of him. It isn't everyone who can wear 
a rattler around his sombrero, you know." 

“ I'll say that was a fine shot," declared Stacy. 

“ Yes, but not better than almost any other 
person could make," differed Emma Dean. 

“ Velly fine. Me savvy fine shot," interjected 
the Chinaman. 

“ Emma, in a way, is right," spoke up Grace. 
“ It does not take any sort of marksmanship at 
all to shoot the head from a rattler. Even a 
person who never has fired a gun in his life should 
be able to shoot one." 

Hippy laughed. 

“ You don't believe it. Suppose you let Emma 
try it when next we meet a snake. Point your 
rifle at a rattler and he will line his head up with 
the muzzle. Move the muzzle from side to side 
and he will follow it, always keeping his head in 
line with it. Then, all you have to do is pull the 
trigger. Why, I believe I could shoot and hit 
one with my eyes shut. I think I should like to 
make the experiment next time we see a rattler/' 
said Grace. 


9 - Grace Harlowe in the High Sierras 



130 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“Never mind; never mind! We will take 
your word for it,” protested Stacy Brown. “ We 
do not need a public demonstration.” 

“ It surely would be interesting,” agreed El- 
freda. 

“ Oh, all right. Just let me know when the 
show is coming off and I’ll have business on the 
other side of the mountain,” declared the fat boy. 

During this temporary halt the pack-horses 
had plodded on alone. They made a detour of 
the spot where the snake was being skinned, 
seeming instinctively to know where they were 
expected to go, and soon after they started off, 
Woo Smith followed with his “Hi-lee, hi-lo! ” 

About midday they topped a range of hills, and 
before them saw revealed a vast forest that 
stretched over more miles of mountain country 
than they cared to try to estimate. At first they 
had no idea of the bigness of the trees; it was 
merely a great forest. 

Lieutenant Wingate, who had been gazing in¬ 
quiringly at the scene, fanning himself with his 
sombrero, turned to his companions. 

“ Good people, you are now gazing on some of 
the big trees of California of which you no doubt 
have heard or read much. Before you lies the 
world-famous Sequoia forest. Let us push on. 
When you are among the trees you will get a 
better idea of their great height.” 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


131 


“You should have been a guide on a sight¬ 
seeing bus,” averred Emma, as the Overlanders 
rode on. 

The party reached the edge of the great forest 
some two hours later, where, in the cool shadows, 
they halted for a rest. 

“ I am told,” resumed Hippy pompously, “ that 
this forest comprises more than five thousand 
specimens of trees.” 

“ And you will also observe,” announced Emma 
Dean, standing up in her stirrups and waving 
her sombrero, “ that many of them are from ten 
to twenty feet in diameter. At the great height 
to which they grow, the least leaning either way 
would cause the trees to break off. You will ob¬ 
serve, also, the perfect symmetry of the trees. 
They are perfect works of art,” finished Emma, 
resuming her seat on the saddle. 

“Hooray!” shouted Stacy Brown. “Emma 
has transmigrated again.” 

Emma’s companions looked at her in amaze¬ 
ment, then burst out laughing. 

“ Where in the world did you learn all that, 
darling ” questioned Nora Wingate admiringly. 

“ I heard the postmaster at Gardner telling 
Hippy about it,” answered Emma meekly, amid 
shouts of laughter at Lieutenant Wingate’s 
expense. 

The scene was so impressive that the laughter 


132 


GRACE HARLOWE 


of the Overland Riders soon died away, for the 
great silence of this wonderful forest had taken 
strong hold on them. Whereas all other forests 
in which they had traveled, were continually nod¬ 
ding and murmuring, the giant Sequoias stood in 
absolute calm. Tom Gray explained this silence 
by saying that, owing to their great height, the 
trunks were solid, the branches rigid and the 
movement very slight. Even though there might 
be some slight murmurings, the tops were so far 
above the ground that the human ear could not 
catch the faint rustling up there. 

As the party moved on through the silent 
forest aisles, the bigness of the trees grew upon 
them. 

“You savvy big tlees? ” asked Woo Smith 
finally, after a long period of silence on his part. 

The Overlanders nodded. 

“ Do you know where there is a spring or a 
creek? ” asked Tom. 

“ Me savvy spling,” nodded Woo. 

“ Lead us to it. Is it far from here? ” 

The guide answered with a shake of his head. 

An hour later, no water being yet in sight, 
Grace called a halt. 

“ Woo, I do not believe you savvy any spring 
at all,” he said. “ I think we should camp right 
where we are. It will soon be dark, and if we 
keep on going we shall undoubtedly be worse off 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


133 


than if we remain where we are. Smith, have 
you lost the trail? ” she demanded. 

Woo did not reply at once, but gazed up at the 
tops of the trees, muttering to himself. 

“You’re lost! That’s what’s the matter,’” 
grinned Stacy. 

“ Woo no lost. Tlail him lost. Me savvy tlail 
lost,” chuckled the Chinaman. 

“ I thought so,” agreed Hippy gravely. “ There 
being no objection, I second Grace’s motion that 
we camp here.” 

“ While you are making camp I will go out 
and prospect for water,” offered Tom, wheeling 
his pony about and riding off into the forest. 
Tom, being a forester by profession, an experi¬ 
enced woodsman, they felt no concern over his 
departure, but, as the hours following his de¬ 
parture wore on and Tom Gray did not return, 
the Overlanders began to worry. 

At nine o’clock they began firing signals at in¬ 
tervals, and Woo Smith built up a blazing fire, 
but there was no response to either signal. Grace 
Harlowe was the least worried of the party. 

“We will have supper,” she said. “Tom will 
be all right. Should he be lost it will not be the 
first time.” 

“Yes, but what if he doesn’t find himself? n 
questioned Emma tremulously. 

“ In that event he will make camp and sleep in 


134 


GRACE HARLOWE 


the forest, so you folks make your beds and turn 
in for a good night’s sleep, just as I am going to 
do,” urged Grace. 

“ Iii-lee, hi-lo! ” chanted Woo. 

“ Stop that noise, will you! ” commanded 
Chunky. “ I am not in the mood for song this 
evening, and I might do you bodily harm,” he 
added, starting to prepare his bed. This he did 
by smoothing the ground with an axe swung adz- 
wise between his legs, then filling in the open 
space with dry pine needles. The Overlanders 
observed his work in interested silence. 

“You do know how to do something, don’t 
you? ” approved Emma. 

“ Someone in the outfit has to have a head with 
him,” retorted Chunky. “ It makes me sleepy 
to look at it. If I weren’t sleepy I would make 
beds in the same way for you girls. Let Uncle 
Hip do it, I can’t keep awake long enough. 
Good night! ” Stacy lay down, and the others 
quickly crawled under their blankets and went 
to sleep, watched over by the huge Sequoias that 
had stood sentinel on that very spot for hundreds 
of years. 

Then, all at once, it was morning. The songs 
of birds filled the air, and a squirrel, whisking 
its tail nervously, chattered on a giant tree trunk, 
then darted up out of sight. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


135 


CHAPTER XIII 


THE CAMP AT THE “ LAZY J " 


S TACY sat up and rubbed his ej^es. 

“ What did you wake me up for? ” he 
demanded. “ Hulloa, Tom! " 

“ I awakened you by transmigration of 
thought/' answered Emma. “ Oh, girls, girls, 
wake up! Tom is here," she cried. 

The camp was instantly aroused. Tom was 
discovered sitting calmly by a little fire that he 
had built, waiting for the sleepers to awaken. 
Tom had done exactly what Grace said he would. 
When he lost his bearings in the darkness, he 
lay down to wait for daylight. When daylight 
came he found no difficulty in picking up his trail 
and returning to camp. 

“ Did you find water? " demanded Hippy. 

“ Not a drop. For that reason, we must take 
a quick breakfast and hurry on. I think we shall 
find water beyond the next low range, and it is 
necessary that we do so before the sun gets high 
and hot. We can stand it for some time longer, 
but the horses cannot." 


136 


GRACE HARLOWE 


The start was made soon after that, Tom and 
Hippy packing their belongings while Woo and 
the girls were getting breakfast. The trail they 
followed took them up a gradual slope for several 
miles and then pitched giddily into a deep can¬ 
yon, a canyon that covered all of fifty acres, from 
which the hills rose in great swells into the far 
distance. The climb down the side of the moun¬ 
tain was tiresome and difficult, but they forgot 
their discomfort when finally they came upon a 
stream of cold, sparkling water that came down 
from the snow-capped tips of the High Sierras. 

“ Oh, look! ” cried Emma. “ Cows! Now we 
can have some milk.” 

“ Cows! ” groaned Stacy. “ Those aren’t cows, 
they are cattle.” 

There were loud exclamations of wonder when 
the Overlanders saw a lot of cattle, in charge of 
several herders, grazing less than a mile away. 
After permitting the horses to drink all that was 
good for them, and after the Overlanders them¬ 
selves had drunk and filled their water bottles, 
they galloped on towards the herd. From the 
herders they learned that the cattle belonged to 
the “ Lazy J ” ranch. The animals were on their 
summer grazing grounds, having come up into the 
hills for the summer months. 

The herders informed the Overlanders that the 
ranch-house was about five miles due east of 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


137 


there, and that the boss would be glad to see 
them. 

“ My horse has a loose shoe. Is there a black¬ 
smith outfit over there? ” asked Hippy. 

“ Sure,” answered a herder. “ You’ll have to 
do your own smithing, though.” 

“ I reckon I can do that all right,” answered 
Lieutenant Wingate. “ We can make camp there 
and have a rest before we undertake the next 
hard climb.” 

After waving good-byes to the herders, the 
Overland Riders resumed their journey, arriving 
at the “ Lazy J ” ranch about mid-afternoon. 
They were warmly welcomed by Mr. Giddings, 
the foreman, who showed his amazement that a 
party of young women should have made the 
rough ride into the mountains. 

“ Help yourselves to anything in sight. It’s all 
yours,” he offered. “ Glad to have you take pot 
luck w T ith me in my shack. There isn’t much, 
but what there is you are welcome to.” 

“ No. You sit down with us and have a 
snack,” urged Grace. 

Mr. Giddings did so, and after a late luncheon 
he conducted Hippy to the blacksmith shop, 
where Lieutenant Wingate removed the loose 
shoe from his pony and straightening it on the 
anvil proceeded to nail it back in place, observed 
interestedly by the Overlanders and several cow- 


138 


GRACE HARLOWE 


boys who were resting up at the ranch-house. 
Even the cowboys* cook came out, frying-pan in 
hand, to see how the tenderfoot would go about 
it to shoe a horse. 

The cowboys looked on with solemn visages, 
expressive of neither approval nor disapproval. 
Their interest quickened, however, when Stacy 
Brown announced that he was going to remove a 
loose shoe from the off hind foot of the white 
mare, Kitty, and set it properly in place. 

Kitty was led in, and Chunky made his prepa¬ 
rations with sundry flourishes to show the spec¬ 
tators that he knew what he was about. Kitty 
was not unobservant, and every move of the 
Overland boy was narrowly watched by her. 

“ I should advise you to watch her ears,” urged 
Grace. 

“ It isn’t her ears, it’s those hind feet that I am 
interested in,” replied Stacy. “ Ears can’t hurt 
a fellow — feet can,” he said. “ Whoa, you 
brute! ” added Stacy, running a hand down one 
of the pony’s hind legs, then lifting the foot from 
the ground. 

What followed was almost too swift for the 
human eye. Barely had the foot been lifted than 
Kitty kicked the boy clear out of the shop. In 
his flight, Chunky was catapulted against the 
cook, and both went down in a heap. 

The faces of the cow-punchers relaxed. They 



139 









































140 


GRACE HARLOWE 


howled, fired their revolvers into the air and went 
fairly wild with joy, while Grace and Elfreda dis¬ 
entangled Stacy and the cowboys’ cook and stood 
them on their feet. 

“ Are you hurt? ” begged Grace solicitously. 

“ Of course I am. I’m killed, but the white 
mare is going to get worse than I did,” threatened 
the fat boy. 

“ Cool off. Don’t punish her now,” advised 
Elfreda. 

“ I don’t want to cool off. I want to shoe that 
beast.” Stacy strode belligerently to the now 
meek little animal. “ I ought to break your 
miserable neck, but I haven’t time to do it to-day. 
Besides, the weather is too warm. If I did, this 
outfit would make me dig a hole and bury you. 
I always get the worst of it when trying to do a 
good turn for others. Now you stand still or I’ll 
surely forget myself.” 

This time Kitty made no objection to having 
her loose shoe removed, but once off Stacy did not 
know how to put it on again, and Tom Gray had 
to finish the job to the great enjoyment of the 
cowboys. The job finally finished, Stacy and 
Hippy perspiring from their efforts, the Over¬ 
landers went out to watch the range men come 
in, uttering wild whoops as they discovered that 
there were women in camp. 

Throwing themselves from their saddles, the 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


141 


range men soused their heads in the creek that 
flowed near the ranch-house, and were ready for 
the evening meal. After supper, all hands 
lounged out to the green in front of the bunk- 
house, smoked their pipes and told thrilling stories 
of adventure in the Sierras — told them for the 
benefit of the tenderfeet who were their guests. 

The Overland girls chatted with the rough but 
big-hearted cow punchers, who, that night, de¬ 
clared that they never had come up with such a 
likely bunch of young women. 

When Mr. Giddings learned from Tom Gray 
that the party was bound for the High Sierras, 
he shook his head dubiously. 

“ No place for white folk, especially women,” 
he warned. 

“ Why not? " questioned Tom. 

“ Trouble! It’s the Devil's country up there." 

“ We are used to roughing it under all sorts of 
conditions," replied Tom. “We learned how to 
do that during the Great War. All these young 
women were in the service, at or near the front 
in France; Mr. Wingate was an aviator, and I 
was a Captain of Engineers, so you see we aren't 
afraid of trouble." 

“ That's all right. I take off my hat to you, 
especially to the young ladies. This country is 
another breed of cats, however, and they tell 
strange stories about men going up there and 


142 


GRACE HARLOWE 


never being found afterwards, or, as is sometimes 
the case, found dead in the Crazy Lake section. 
Aerial Lake, they call it.” 

“Where is this mysterious lake?” asked Miss 
Briggs. 

“ I don’t rightly know. I don’t know anything 
about it. I reckon I don’t want to know. 
Neither would you if you had been up here long 
and had heard as much about it as I have. Did 
you ever hear of the Jones gang? ” 

“ I reckon we have. We had a little mix-up 
with them. At least, we understand that was 
the outfit,” Hippy informed them. 

“ Yes, and we drove them off and gave them a 
good walloping,” added Stacy. 

“ Let’s hear the yarn,” called a cowboy. 

Hippy related the story of the hold-up and of 
the skirmish that followed, resulting in the driv¬ 
ing off of the train robbers. The cowboys listened 
attentively, their expressions showing an increas¬ 
ing respect for the “ tenderfeet ” who had dropped 
in on them for a friendly call. 

“ Why should this band of outlaws have reason 
to interfere with us? ” asked Tom. 

“ Why do they bother other folks? ” answered 
Mr. Giddings. “ For what they can get out of 
it, of course,” he said, answering his own question. 

“ They will not get much if they hold us up,” 
Grace Harlowe informed their hosts. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


143 


“ No. I reckon that would not likely put you 
in peril, for the reason that they are after bigger 
game, like that treasure on the Red Limited. 
There’s another thing, though, that might make 
it equally bad for you people.” 

“ What is that, Mr. Giddings? ” asked Elfreda. 

“ The railroad has had Pinkerton detectives 
after that gang for a long time, on account of an 
express robbery, which makes the gang rather 
touchy about strangers being in the mountains.” 

“ Where does this Jones crowd make its head¬ 
quarters? ” questioned Hippy. 

“ That's just the point. Nobody seems to 
know, but they are supposed to hang out to the 
eastward of this place. We have never seen any 
of them since I have been on this range, which 
is going on five years.” 

“ Then we do not have to bother our heads 
about them at all,” announced Tom. “ We are 
not going in that direction.” 

“ You're going to the peak, aren’t you? ” asked 
Giddings. 

“ Yes,” replied Grace. 

“ Hm-m-m-m-m! I’ll bet I know what you 
folks are after. You’re after golden trout. 
You’re not the first parties to come up here look¬ 
ing for those shiny fellows.” 

“Eh? What’s that?” questioned Hippy, in¬ 
stantly on the alert. 


GRACE HARLOWE 


144 

k 

“ Where are they? I’m the boy that is looking 
for gold/’ spoke up Stacy. 

“ Maybe there ain’t any such thing/’ laughed 
Giddings. “ But they do tell a story about a 
prospector coming across a stream up Farewell 
Gap way, where the golden trout were as thick 
as pollywogs in a mud puddle.” 

Tom said he had never heard of them. Gid¬ 
dings replied that he reckoned no one else ever 
had in reality. 

“ They do say,” resumed the foreman, “ that 
when the fisherman discovered those fellows 
basking in the sun at the bottom of the stream, 
he sure thought he had struck it rich. He be¬ 
lieved that he had found sure-enough gold nug¬ 
gets, but when he went to gather them, the 
nuggets just up and dusted.” 

“ That’s the way nuggets usually do,” answered 
Stacy wisely. 

“ I hope we find them,” said Hippy. “ I have 
a rod and a book of flies with me.” 

“ It’s enough to give a fellow heart disease, 
anyway,” continued Giddings. “ So, between the 
Joneses, the lake and the movable nuggets, you 
folks have plenty of entertainment ahead of you.” 

“ There is generally excitement and some 
trouble where we hang up our hats,” laughed Nora 
Wingate, “ but we manage somehow to get along 
all right.” 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


145 


“ I wish you luck, pardner,” nodded Mr. Gid- 
dings. “ Ill have a bunk-house cleaned out for 
you folks to-night, so you can sleep indoors/' he 
offered. 

Thanking him, but declaring that they pre¬ 
ferred to sleep in the open, just as they had been 
doing for several seasons, the Overlanders made 
camp out of doors just beyond the corral. The 
night was hot and the flies very thick. The 
night's rest was not at all satisfying for this 
reason, and for the added one that the cow- 
punchers’ ponies in the corral were restless. 
Hippy said it indicated that a storm was coming, 
but Stacy differed with him. He averred that 
the ponies were restless for the same reason that 
he was — because the flies bit them — and the 
Overlanders laughingly agreed that there might 
be something in the fat boy’s reasoning after all. 

Next morning they were out with the earliest 
of the punchers. After breakfast, packs were 
made up and lashed with firm hitches thrown 
about them. Then bidding good-bye to their 
hosts and shaking hands all around, the Overland 
Riders set out for their long journey over the 
mountains — a journey that would occupy some 
weeks and be filled with exciting as well as 
enjoyable experiences. 


10- 


Grace Harlowe in the High Sierras 



146 


GRACE HARLOWE 


CHAPTER XIV 

WOO’S EYES ARE KEEN 

T HE air was becoming chilly, the Over¬ 
land Riders now being at an altitude 
of nearly eight thousand feet, and still 
upward bound. 

A week had elapsed since they left the 
“ Lazy J ” ranch, and during all that time they 
had sighted no game except some grouse that 
they had shot at but failed to bring down. Pro¬ 
visions were at a low ebb and all knew that they 
were nearly face to face with a serious situation. 

Hippy Wingate was pondering deeply when 
they pulled up for luncheon one noon. He was 
wondering what he was going to give his party 
for supper, for Hippy was the official game-hunter 
of the Overland party, and they had come to 
rely on his resourcefulness to provide food for 
them. Stacy Brown was even more deeply in¬ 
terested in this matter than was “ Uncle Hip,” 
but for a somewhat different reason. 

“ What do we eat to-day? ” he asked in a tone 
that he tried to make sound light-hearted. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


147 


Some one laughed. 

“ Oh, it’s not because I'm hungry,” hastily ex¬ 
plained Chunky. “ I just wanted to know so as 
not to have to open all the packs unless we are 
going to have a spread.” 

“ Ours is more likely to be a snack than a 
spread,” suggested Grace laughingly. 

“ What is it going to be, Hippy? ” questioned 
Nora. 

“ Raisins and hard tack, my dear.” 

“ You don’t mean it? ” gasped the fat boy. 

“ I reckon that will be about it if I don’t see 
some game to shoot at,” replied Hippy a little 
soberly. 

“ Raisins and hard tack for a man with an 
appetite like mine,” groaned Stacy. “ You might 
as well feed a bricklayer on angel food and expect 
him to smack his lips and pat his stomach with 
heavenly satisfaction. This is too much, and too 
much is enough.” 

“ If you folks will camp here I will go out and 
see if I cannot scare up some game,” suggested 
Hippy. 

“ I do not believe you will find anything worth 
while at this altitude,” said Tom Gray. “ It is a 
condition that I have feared we should meet. 
I—” 

“ You no savvy game? ” interjected the China¬ 


man. 


148 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“No, Smith/’ replied Hippy. “We savvy 
plenty appetite, but we no savvy anything with 
which to satisfy it. If I could sight a deer —” 

“ Me savvy deer. Me show buck in lelet,” 
cried Woo, gesticulating excitedly. 

“ What kind of heathen talk is that? ” won¬ 
dered Emma. 

“'Buck in lelet! ’ ” mocked Stacy. 

Hippy was eyeing the guide inquiringly, know¬ 
ing very well that Woo had something in mind. 

“ Buck in lelet,” repeated the Chinaman, in¬ 
dicating the horns on a deer’s head, with his 
hands. 

“ I understand,” nodded Tom Gray. “ What 
he is trying to say is, ‘ buck in velvet. ’ ” 

“ Ha, ha! The further they go the worse they 
are. First it was Emma Dean whose wheels went 
wrong; now it is my Uncle Hip and Captain 
Gray,” jeered Stacy. “ Is it the altitude that has 
gone to your head? ” 

“ No, it has not,” retorted Lieutenant Wingate. 
“ Woo has more sense than all of us together. 
At this season of the year the bucks ' carry their 
antlers in velvet.’ ” 

“ Oh, pooh! That is a fine fairy tale to feed 
hungry people with. Folks back east might 
swallow it, but not up here among the high and 
lofty peaks of the Sierras. Tell me something 
that I can swallow,” laughed Stacy. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


149 


“ Stacy, if you will hold your horses I will try 
to explain/’ rebuked Tom. “ At this season of 
the year the antlers of the bucks are very tender, 
and that condition is called ‘ carrying the antlers 
in velvet.’ In those circumstances the bucks fre¬ 
quent the high rocky peaks that their tender 
horns may not be torn off in contact with tough 
bushes and trees. Later on you will find the 
bucks on the lower ranges. Then, as the antlers 
become hard, almost as hard as iron, the bucks 
take to the dense thickets.” 

Stacy Brown mopped his forehead. 

“ Emma, why don’t you transmigrate a little? 
Send a little thought wave out and see if you 
can’t get in touch with a nice fat buck all dressed 
up in velvet,” he suggested. 

Emma Dean elevated her nose, but made no 
reply. She was at that moment more interested 
in the guide, who was running his yellow fingers 
about his wrists inside the wide sleeves, and 
chuckling to himself at a rapid-fire rate. 

“ Me savvy! Hi-lee, hi-lo; hi—” 

“ What were you going to say? ” urged Hippy. 

“ You savvy buck in lelet? ” 

Lieutenant Wingate shook his head. 

“ Me savvy buck.” 

“ You do? Where?” 

The guide pointed his long, bony finger towards 
the rocks on the other side of a narrow pass in 


150 


GRACE HARLOWE 


the mountains. The mountain there was covered 
with brownish grass and some spindling saplings. 
Lieutenant Wingate looked until his eyes ached, 
then turned to Smith. 

“Woo, you must be mistaken,” he said. 

The guide took the stick that he used to beat 
up the trail ahead on his march each day, laid 
it across a rock, and, after sighting it, beckoned 
to Lieutenant Wingate to look over it. 

“ You savvy? ” he questioned eagerly. 

“ No, I don’t, Woo.” 

“ Mebby you savvy to-mollow,” replied the 
Chinaman disgustedly. 

The Overland Riders snickered, and even Hippy 
grinned appreciatively. 

“ I reckon you are not far from right, Woo. 
I —” Hippy paused abruptly. Out of that mass 
of brown something began to grow into his vision, 
to stand out until everything else appeared to 
have disappeared. 

“ You savvy nicee piecee buck? ” chuckled the 
guide. 

Hippy reached a cautious hand behind him. 

“My rifle. Quick! ” he whispered. “Woo is 
right. There lays a fine big fellow behind that 
bush over yonder. I don’t know whether he sees 
us or not. It is a dead sure shot, too. Don’t 
make a sound,” urged Lieutenant Wingate as his 
rifle was cautiously laid in his outstretched hand. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


151 


Placing it across the rock where Woo had laid 
the stick for him to sight over, Hippy took care¬ 
ful aim a little below the base of the antlers of 
the buck. His automatic rifle belched forth a 
deafening roar that went rolling and echoing from 
peak to peak. 

At the same instant, what appeared to be a 
dull brown and white ball leaped into the air 
and went bounding away in tremendous leaps. 
Hippy’s rifle went to his shoulder and he fired 
again, but the shot only served to hasten the 
speed of the fine large buck that Woo Smith had 
discovered. Hippy had missed a “ sure shot ” as 
well as a long shot. 

“ Uncle Hip never misses what he shoots at,” 
quoted Emma a little maliciously. 

“ Why don’t you use your pea-shooter? ” 
scoffed Stacy. “ Dead Shot Hip made a mess of 
it that time.” 

“ He did,” admitted Hippy, “ and Stacy Brown 
missed a fine fat meal. Laugh at me all you like, 
folks. I deserve it, but I don't understand how 

I could miss that shot.” 

“ Don’t wolly till to-mollow,” advised the guide 

wisely. 

“ May I look at your rifle? ” asked Grace. 

Lieutenant Wingate handed it to her and Grace 
gave it a critical inspection, then held it out to 
Hippy. 


152 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ Look it over carefully. I think you will dis¬ 
cover why you missed/’ she suggested. 

Hippy intuitively glanced at the sights, and 
shot a quick look of inquiry at Chunky, but 
Chunky’s face was woodeny in its lack of expres¬ 
sion. Without another word, Lieutenant Wingate 
set up a mark, placed his ride on the rock, mark¬ 
ing its exact position, and, taking careful aim, 
fired. The bullet shot under by more than a foot, 
whereas it should have shot over the mark, the 
rifle being originally sighted for a much longer 
distance. Several cartridges -were expended in 
resighting the weapon and adjusting the open 
sight, which he found had been changed from its 
former position. 

“ There, now! Show me another deer. I don’t 
believe I shall miss the next one.” 

“You savvy sight no good,” chuckled the 
Chinaman. 

Lieutenant Wingate nodded. 

“ Stacy, come here. I would hold converse with 
thee,” he ordered. 

Stacy complied, but with evident reluctance, 
and, obeying a gesture from Hippy, seated him¬ 
self on a slab of granite beside his Uncle Hip. 

“ Why did you fool with the sights on my 
rifle? ” demanded Lieutenant Wingate sharply. 

“I —I —I—” 

“ Don’t quibble. Whenever you put on a 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


153 


wooden face I know that you have been up to 
monkey-shines. Why did you do it?” 

“ I — I ~ I just wanted to get even with you, 
Uncle Hip,” stammered the fat boy. 

“ For what? ” 

“ You — you pinked my pony with a pea¬ 
shooter and made me come a cropper in a rose 
bush. Don't you deny it. You know you did,” 
added Chunky, adopting his most savage tone. 

Hippy Wingate chuckled. 

“ That is it, eh?” 

“ Yes.” 

“ When did you change them — change the 
open sights? ” 

“ I did it when you were after water last night.” 

“ Shake, pard! ” cried Hippy, extending an im¬ 
pulsive hand. “We are quits now, aren’t we? ” 

“ Yes, we are dear friends. We’re more than 
that — we love each other most to death,” de¬ 
clared Stacy fervently. 

“Oh, fiddlesticks!” exclaimed Emma Dean. 
“You make me weary.” 

“ But, Stacy, the next time you wish to get 
even with a fellow, please do not tamper with 
his weapons, especially in a country like this,” 
warned Lieutenant Wingate. “ It is a dangerous 
thing to do. Suppose I had met up with a cinna¬ 
mon bear at close range, for instance — what do 
you think would have happened? ” 


154 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ I reckon there would have been a sprinting 
match between you and the cinnamon,” observed 
Stacy in a tone that brought a shout of laughter 
from the Overland girls. 

“ You are partly right,” agreed Hippy laugh¬ 
ingly, “ but don’t do anything like that again, 
will you? ” 

Stacy promised that he would not, but the 
probabilities are that he forgot the promise 
within five minutes after he had made it, for at 
that instant Woo Smith uttered a sudden excla¬ 
mation that drew the instant attention of the 
Overland Riders. 

“ Me savvy buck! Me savvy buck in lelet,” 
chuckled the Chinaman excitedly. 

Hippy was on his feet in an instant. 

“ Where, where? ” 

“ You savvy him white lock? ” 

“Yes, I see the white rock. Sure enough; 
there he is! ” 

When the automatic roared a moment later, a 
brown ball was seen to leap into the air, but, 
instead of bounding away, it straightened out and 
took a long, curving leap, crashed into the dwarfed 
bushes, then whipped over on its back. 

“ I got him! ” shouted Lieutenant Wingate 
triumphantly. 

“Great shot!” cried Elfreda Briggs enthusi¬ 
astically. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


155 


“ Hi-lee, hi-lo; hi-lee, hi-lo! ” sang the guide, 
hopping about delightedly, his queue wriggling in 
the air with serpent-like movements. This time 
no one appeared to be irritated by Woo’s singing, 
for Lieutenant Wingate’s shot meant food in 
plenty for the Overland Riders. 


156 


GRACE HARLOWE 


% 


CHAPTER XV 

FOLLOWING THE AERIAL TRAIL 

S HOUTING and laughing, the entire party 
raced down the hill and up the other side 
to view the result of Lieutenant Wingate’s 
shot. They found the buck lying dead where it 
had fallen, with a bullet hole through its head. 

“ Can my Uncle Hip shoot? Well, I reckon he 
can,” declared Stacy pompously. “ Cleverness 
runs in our family,” boasted Stacy. 

“ That quality must have exhausted itself be¬ 
fore you joined the family,” retorted Emma. 

Stacy admitted that he had lost some of it 
after becoming a member of the Overland Riders, 
which, he said, was undoubtedly due to associa¬ 
tion with inferior intellects, to which Emma had 
no reply to make, other than characteristically 
elevating her nose and turning her back on the 
fat boy. 

“ Come, come,” urged Hippy. “ Stacy, you and 
Tom will have to help me dress this beast if 
you want meat. It is certain that we shall not 
starve today.” 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


157 


The job of dressing the buck was accomplished 
clumsily, the Overland girls being interested 
spectators and offering frequent suggestions on 
the subject, of which they knew nothing. 

That night the Riders enjoyed a great spread. 
Following it, such of the meat as they wished to 
carry with them they pitted on sharp sticks in 
the smoke of the camp-fire. This was the begin¬ 
ning of the curing process required to put the 
meat in condition to keep, so that they might 
carry it along, for the party did not dare trust 
to the chance of finding other game farther on, 
fearing that they again might be caught food¬ 
less. One experience of the kind was enough. 

Lieutenant Wingate and his companions had 
learned a lesson in observation from the guide, 
and Hippy began to understand that a hunter, 
when after game, must put out of his mind every 
object in the landscape except the particular 
thing for which he is looking. He tried out 
that idea that same day by looking for various 
objects, one at a time, and was amazed at the 
result. Under this method, objects that he had 
not before observed at all now stood out with 
great prominence. Hippy then recalled what an 
old hunter, then sniping Germans, had told him 
in France: “ Let your eyes sweep quickly over 
the landscape but pay no attention to the more 
prominent objects, and you will be amazed at 


158 


GRACE HARLOWE 


the quickness with which you will discover that 
for which you are looking.” 

The method worked out just as Hippy’s in¬ 
formant had said it would, and Hippy determined 
never again to be caught napping. However, his 
respect for the guide had increased considerably, 
and especially for the keenness of Woo Smith’s 
eyes. 

With all the venison they could carry packed 
in their kits, the party set out early on the fol¬ 
lowing morning and soon found themselves on 
the brink of another box-canyon, which they 
reached without mishap, then made their way up 
the side of another mountain, and on over a 
series of rugged elevations that would tax the 
sure-footedness of a mountain goat. 

“ This up and down progress reminds me of 
a wild ride that I once had on a scenic railway 
at Coney Island,” declared Elfreda Briggs as they 
finally halted for a rest. Elfreda’s face was red 
from exertion and excitement, and her hair had 
become the plaything of the mountain breezes. 

“ Don’t wolly till to-mollow,” chuckled Stacy. 

“ Stacy, you’re right,” nodded Tom Gray. 
“ But it is now time we were moving. See that 
ridge to the right of us? ” 

“ Surely we do not have to cross that, do we? ” 
begged Emma. 

“ Yes. We shall have to ride its entire length 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


159 


in order to reach the high mountain peak th^t 
you see still farther on. Either we must sta & 
now or wait until tomorrow,” averred Tom. 

“ It never will do to be caught on the top of 
that ridge in the darkness,” agreed Hippy. 

The ridge referred to lay slightly higher than 
their present position, but there was plainly a 
safe trail leading to it. Orders to move were 
given by Hippy. The Overland Riders were 
quickly in their saddles, and the party slowly 
mounted the ridge, but halted as they came to the 
top of it. For once the girls experienced a case 
of “ nerves.” 

“ We never shall be able to ride over this 
awful trail,” cried Elfreda Briggs. 

“ Oh, let’s go back,” begged Emma. 

“ Impossible! ” answered Hippy. “ This is the 
trail that we shall have to follow to reach the 
high peak of the Sierras.” 

“ If the horses behave and no one loses her 
head we ought to be able to cross safely,” averred 
Grace. 

“ My head is swimming already,” moaned Nora. 

“ Why don’t you turn it over and let it float 
for a few minutes? ” suggested Chunky. 

After directing Woo to proceed on ahead, the 
journey was resumed, and the ponies stepped out 
over the knife-edge top of the ridge. This ridge, 
not more than a dozen feet wide along the top, 


160 


GRACE HARLOWE 


fc rmed a natural bridge connecting two mountain 
ranges. Here and there the sides of the ridge 
fell away sheer for hundreds of feet, and at others, 
smooth granite rocks sloped away to the canyon 
below. 

Ahead of the Riders, Woo Smith was picking 
his way unconcernedly, singing blithely. The 
girls of the party sought to look equally uncon¬ 
cerned, but not with very much success, for each 
one was feeling the effect of the great height and 
their peril on the narrow path. Emma Dean 
finally slipped from her saddle, and passing the 
bridle-rein over one arm, proceeded to pick her 
way on foot. 

“ Cold feet, eh? ” scoffed Stacy. 

“ No. I’m scared, that’s all,” replied Emma. 
“ I don’t care who knows it, either.” 

Grace glanced at the faces of her companions, 
and then at the rapidly narrowing trail. 

“ While I believe that we shall be in less peril 
on our ponies than on foot, I suggest that we all 
walk,” she said, dismounting. “ With your feet 
on the ground you will be less nervous.” 

Grace’s companions lost no time in following 
her example, but they dismounted cautiously. It 
was a relief to feel the solid ground under their 
feet. A laugh further relieved the strain when 
Hippy Wingate finally dismounted. The girls 
teased him unmercifully, though all knew that a 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


161 


man who had fought the Germans in the clouds 
was not likely to be disturbed by great heights. A 
few moments later Stacy dismounted, but Tom 
remained on his pony and appeared to be enjoy¬ 
ing the novel experience of riding along this 
unusual aerial trail. 

Miss Kitty, the lazy pack-horse, as usual, 
brought up the rear of the line and was dragging 
farther and farther behind. Her actions were ob¬ 
served with keen interest by the Overlanders, 
there being no certainty as to what the white 
pack mare might or might not do. She proved 
the wisdom of their lack of confidence in her 
when, weaving from side to side to avoid stepping 
over projecting rocks or boulders, she stepped off 
the trail with one hind foot. 

“ Quick, Hippy! ” cried Nora excitedly. “ She 
will fall over! ” 

Lieutenant Wingate sprang forward and gave 
the mare a quick slap on her flank. The mare 
jumped, then down she fell on her side with hind¬ 
quarters hanging partly over the brink, and there 
she lay groaning dismally, the picture of misery 
and fear. The faces of the Overland girls paled, 
for each knew that the slightest struggle on the 
part of the white mare would send her sliding 
to the bottom of the canyon fully a thousand 
feet below. 


u 


Orac4 Harloxee in the High Sierra* 



162 


GRACE HARLOWE 


CHAPTER XVI 


GOING TO BED IN THE CLOUDS 



H, HIPPY, you have done it this 
time! ” cried Nora. 


Vy “Keep quiet! Don’t frighten her!” 
cried Grace, snatching the lariat from her saddle 
and handing it to Hippy. “ Slip the loop over one 
of her hind legs, but for goodness sake do not 
make any sudden moves.” 

“ Wait! I’ll get a derrick,” shouted Stacy. 

“Keep quiet!” commanded Tom sternly, at 
the same time taking a rope from the pommel 
of his own saddle and hurrying to Lieutenant 
Wingate’s assistance. While Grace was patting 
the head of the fallen animal, trying to soothe 
her, Tom slipped the rope over her neck, Hippy 
having dropped the loop over one hind foot. 

“Oh, Tom, you surely will choke Kitty to 
death if you pull on the neck rope,” warned 
Grace. 

“ Serve her right if I did,” growled Tom. “ She 
is a perpetual nuisance. What next, Lieu¬ 
tenant? ” 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


163 


“ We must haul her up, that’s all. Keep your 
rope taut, but don’t put too much strength on 
it,” directed Hippy, as he began to pull on the 
rope about the white mare’s hind leg. He failed 
to budge her. 

“ It is the pack,” said Elfreda. “ Don’t you 
see that Kitty’s pack is pressing right against 
the rocks? ” 

“ That’s right,” agreed Tom Gray. “ We must 
unload the beast before we can do a thing with 
her. Confound her! ” 

“ Now, Tom,” admonished Grace Harlowe. 

“ Stacy! Get that pack off and be careful 
about it too,” ordered Lieutenant Wingate. 

Stacy could not manage the pack alone, so 
Grace and Elfreda assisted him in removing it. 
This undertaking, perilous as it was, was accom¬ 
plished after more than two hours had been lost 
through Kitty’s clumsiness. It was then dis¬ 
covered that the white mare had gone lame, but 
Hippy found that she had suffered nothing more 
serious than a bruised hip. 

“ We must be on our way,” he urged. . 

“ As it is, we shall not get across this ridge 
before dark,” declared Elfreda, glancing at the 
lowering sun. 

“ Oh, don’t say that,” begged Nora. “ We 
must.” 

Tom Gray shook his head. 


164 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ To make haste would be dangerous/’ he 
warned. 

As soon as the white mare was again in proper 
shape the party started ahead, determined to get 
as far on their way as possible before night, but 
darkness was settling over the canyons on either 
side of them when Lieutenant Wingate finally 
called a halt. 

“ We must make camp while we can see to do 
so,” he directed. 

“ What, here? ” cried Emma. 

“ It is the best we have,” answered Lieutenant 
Wingate in a doubtful tone. 

The trail had been steadily narrowing as they 
proceeded, and ahead of them it appeared to be 
almost impassable, at least for horses. It was 
decided to stake the ponies down in single file, 
which the three men finally succeeded in doing to 
their satisfaction. It was not an ideal tethering 
place, but most of the animals were used to 
sleeping in ticklish places, and, in fact, if neces¬ 
sary could sleep standing up. 

Packs were removed and stored in safe places, 
but Woo, who had been sent out to locate a 
spring, returned with the information that he 
could find none. This, however, did not disturb 
the Overlanders, for their bottles held sufficient 
water for supper and breakfast, provided they 
were economical in its use, so a small cook-fire 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 165 


was built, and in a few moments the kettle was 
singing merrily and the odors of coffee and veni¬ 
son were in the air, to the accompaniment of 
Woo Smith's “ Hi-lee, hi-lo.” It was an unusual 
supper for the Overland Riders, sitting there with 
their food served on an army blanket laid on the 
ground, with empty space and sombre canyons 
on either side of them now filled with inky black¬ 
ness. 

While they were eating, Woo gathered stems 
of bushes and piled them ready for making a 
larger fire to light up the camp after supper. 

“ I should like to know where we are going 
to sleep,” reminded Nora as they finished the 
meal. 

Tom said he would make up their beds very 
shortly, whereat the Overlanders laughed, but 
with not much mirth in their voices. 

“ If you don’t make haste you won’t be able 
to find beds to make up,” averred Emma. “ Don’t 
you see the fog rolling in? We shall soon be 
enveloped in it.” 

“Fog!” Hippy laughed heartily. “Why, 
child, that isn’t fog — it is clouds. We are above 
them, but I think they will rise and take us in. 
When it gets a little darker here, you will see 
a sight that will interest you.” 

Hippy’s prediction was fulfilled. The moon 
rose full at about nine o’clock that evening, and 


166 


GRACE HARLOWE 


exclamations of wonder were uttered by the girls 
of the party, as its beams lighted up the slowly 
moving clouds that now had risen almost level 
with the top of the ridge itself. Here and there 
sharp peaks thrust themselves through the cloud 
seas, which were dark and menacing to the eyes 
of the observers. 

“ How beautiful,” murmured Elfreda Briggs. 

“ It is indeed,” breathed Grace. “ The scene 
reminds me of the one that we looked down upon 
when we were riding the Old Apache Trail, ex¬ 
cept that this is infinitely more beautiful. Hippy, 
does not this remind you of France, when you 
were flying above the clouds? ” 

“ In a way, yes. Many is the time that I have 
gone to sleep on a cloud for a few seconds. Tom, 
what is our altitude here? ” he asked, turning to 
his companion. 

“ According to my aneroid, about eight thou¬ 
sand feet.” 

“ We are surely getting up in the world,” 
chuckled Emma. 

“ Don’t congratulate yourself too soon, Miss 
Dean. We may be going the other way before 
morning,” reminded Stacy Brown. “ What about 
starting a conflagration, Captain Gray? ” 

“Woo, stir up the campfire and let’s have 
some light and warmth,” directed Tom. 

“ Oh, it is too bad to destroy this wonderful 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


167 


view. If you build a fire we shan’t be able to see 
the full cloud effect/’ protested Grace. 

“ You will,” answered Hippy. “ We soon shall 
be enveloped in clouds, and we are going to feel 
the cold, too.” 

There was a biting chill in the air already and, 
to the amazement of the campers, mosquitoes 
were numerous and very active. 

Tom, after a survey of their surroundings, said 
he would make up the beds, and called to Woo 
to bring the pick-axe. 

“ Make up the beds with a pick? ” exclaimed 
Emma. 

“Yes. By the way, where do we sleep to¬ 
night? ” asked Miss Briggs in a slightly worried 
tone. 

“ I will show you,” replied Tom, beginning to 
dig a trench in the thin layer of soil that covered 
the ridge. 

“ If you can transmigrate a real bed, I wish 
you would make it two so that I may have one,” 
called Stacy. 

Tom made no reply, but, after digging the 
trench, he had the guide and Hippy place stones 
on either side of it as an added protection against 
rolling out of bed. 

“ Stacy, get in here and see if this hole fits 
your ample proportions,” directed Tom. 

Stacy hesitated. 


163 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ I don’t like to be buried so soon after supper,” 
he complained. “ Is this some new game that 
you are trying to play on me? ” 

“ Yes. It is a game to keep you from falling 
out of bed and making a mess of yourself,” re¬ 
plied Tom tersely. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


169 


CHAPTER XVII 

IN THE LAND OF PINK SNOWS 

4 4 TF — I THINK I should prefer to sleep 
downstairs,” stammered Stacy. 

“ If that is the way you feel, you have 
only to roll over and you will be downstairs for 
keeps,” promised Lieutenant Wingate. 

“ All right, Ill sleep in the hole in the ground, 
but don’t you dare throw dirt on me,” warned 
Stacy, crawling into the trench and cautiously 
disposing of himself to see if his bed fitted. 
“ This isn’t even half a bed, Tom. How am I 
going to turn over? ” 

“ Don’t,” laughed Grace. 

“ Yes, please do,” urged Emma. 

“Wow!” muttered Chunky sitting up and 
peering over the edge of his bed at the cloud-sea 
rolling slowly along just below the camp. 
“ Wouldn’t it be a terrible catastrophe if I were 
to be transmigrated out of bed? ” 

“ That depends upon the point of view,” sug¬ 
gested Emma. 

The Overlanders were startled at this juncture 


170 


GRACE HARLOWE 


by a shout from the Chinaman, accompanied by 
a series of bangs. 

“ Somebody knocked over the kitchen table! ” 
cried Chunky. 

“ Me savvy piecee kettle go ’way,” wailed Woo, 
who, in emptying out some dishes, had let them 
fall over the side of the ridge so that the utensils 
were then on their way to the bottom of the 
canyon, a thousand feet below. 

“ He has lost the kettle,” groaned Nora. “ At 
this rate we shall soon be without anything.” 

“ Except our appetites,” finished Chunky. 

“ What a tragedy,” observed Emma. 

“ Don’t wolly till to-mollow,” advised the guide. 
“ Hi-lee, hi-lo! ” Nothing could disturb the 
equanimity of Woo Smith for very long, and he 
immediately resumed his duties. The loss of a few 
utensils was not a thing to be greatly disturbed 
about — at least he so reasoned the matter out. 

It was late in the evening when the Over¬ 
landers finally got into their trenches and dropped 
off to sleep, but their sleep was brief. First, 
Stacy had nightmare and set up such a howling 
that all hands awakened in alarm. The next 
disturbance came when a sudden mountain wind¬ 
storm sprang up. The Overlanders were aroused 
just in time to see their campfire lifted into the 
air and hurled out over the clouds in which the 
embers and sparks quickly disappeared. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


171 


“Oh, this is terrible! We shall surely be 
blown off the ridge,” cried Emma. 

“ Lie down in your trenches and let the bloom¬ 
ing storm blow itself out! ” shouted Hippy. “ No 
wind-storm up here can harm you so long as you 
keep down.” 

The girls of the party rather reluctantly lay 
down again, and found that, in that position, the 
wind barely touched them, and, from that time 
on, peace reigned in the Overland camp until 
morning. The morning, however, brought with 
it fresh troubles. Every member of the party 
awakened shivering. Stacy declared that his feet 
were frozen, which Emma asserted was a chronic 
condition with him. 

The Overlanders dragged themselves from the 
trenches, shoulders hunched forward, hands thrust 
into their pockets, their faces blue and pinched. 
The limit of their endurance was reached, how¬ 
ever, when the familiar voice of Woo Smith 
assailed their ears. 

“Hi-lee, hi-lo! Don't wolly till to-mollow,” 
sang the guide. 

“ Smith! ” shouted Tom Gray. 

“He—he thi—thi—thinks he's a bird,” chat¬ 
tered Stacy. “ I hope he tries to fly.” 

“Smith, please cut out the singing and pre¬ 
pare hot coffee as quickly as possible,” directed 
Tom. 


172 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ Me savvy coffee. Me savvy nicee piecee day. 
You savvy nicee day? ” bubbled the guide. 

“ Oh, let him have his way, Tom,” urged Grace 
laughingly. “ We should be glad that we have 
such a cheerful guide.” 

“ Cheerful idiot! ” muttered Tom. 

“ Yes, Woo. We savvy,” called Grace, smiling 
over at the grinning face of the Chinaman. 
“ Please make haste with the breakfast, though. 
Girls, get up and look out over the wonderful 
scene before you, and I will guarantee that you 
will instantly forget your troubles.” 

With shaded eyes, they looked and did, for the 
moment, forget their chilled condition. The 
peaks were now in the full glare of the morning 
sun, while down in the canyons day had not yet 
fully dawned, and the dim shadows there were 
gray with the morning mist. 

Another day of hard riding was before them, 
but before starting out Tom and Hippy announced 
that they would try to find a trail up the moun¬ 
tain that loomed in the sky some distance be¬ 
yond. Upon reaching the end of the ridge that 
formed a natural bridge connecting two mountain 
ranges, Tom and Hippy came upon a sharp de¬ 
scent that led down into a broad, open valley, be¬ 
yond which lay the mountain they were to climb. 

“ This looks promising,” nodded Tom, as they 
jogged down into the valley. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


173 


"It is more than that; it is wonderful/’ cried 
Hippy as the two men found themselves in a 
field knee-deep with blue lupines that grew there 
in profusion. The odor of the flowers was almost 
overpowering. To the right and the left of the 
two explorers were bunches of tuft-grass, here 
and there groves of slender lodge-poles, and spin¬ 
dling pines and junipers. Tom and Hippy 
paused in admiring silence. It was more beauti¬ 
ful than anything that they had thought possible 
in this rugged country. 

While they were hunting for a possible trail 
that would lead them up the mountain, Tom 
Gray declared that Nature had used this sweetly 
scented field for a dumping ground, after having 
completed the building of the mountain itself. 

“ Yes, and she protected her work mighty well 
when she erected that snow-capped peak,” 
answered Hippy. “ I know that there must be 
a way out of this place to reach that mountain,” 
he added, getting up from a fall, very red of face, 
his jaw set stubbornly. 

Despite their persistent efforts to find a trail out 
of the valley of the lupines, it was noon before 
they did discover a possible way out for their 
party. After marking it by tying a handkerchief 
to the bent-over top of a spindling pine, they 
started back to join their companions. The 
Overland party had some time since saddled and 


174 


GRACE HARLOWE 


bridled their ponies and were ready to move when 
Tom and Hippy returned to them, and all were 
on their way soon after the arrival of the two 
men. 

“ You are going to see something that will 
gladden your heart, Brown Eyes,” declared Hippy 
as they started on. It was late in the afternoon 
when they finally rode into the valley below. 
The blue lupines, the grass, the pines and the 
junipers there presented a scene that brought 
cries of delighted amazement from the Overland 
girls. 

“ Oh, look at the pink ice cream! ” cried Emma, 
pointing to the towering mountain which they 
were to try to climb. 

“ Why, Tom, we didn’t notice that coloring on 
the snow up there this morning,” exclaimed Lieu¬ 
tenant Wingate. “ It must be a cloud reflection.” 

Tom Gray nodded and said that the pink shade 
probably would soon disappear. 

“ We must camp in the midst of these flowers,” 
cried Grace Harlowe. “ It is finer than any place 
we have yet seen in these mountains.” 

“ I agree with you,” answered Elfreda. “ It 
gives me fresh courage to go on. Why, Grace, 
I feel as if I could vault a six-foot fence.” 

“ Suppose you try to jump over the white 
mare,” suggested Grace, laughingly. “ This high 
altitude has gone to my head, too.” 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


175 


“ No, thank you. I think that it might be 
best for a person of my years to keep her feet on 
the ground/’ laughed Elfreda. “ But the effect, 
as well as the view here, is wonderful. I do not 
believe there is anything like it anywhere else in 
the world.” 

Camp was promptly made amid the flowers. 
Soon thereafter the clouds on the horizon rolled 
down behind the mountains as the sun sank out 
of sight, but as long as light remained on the 
mountain tops, the wonderful pink tint clung to 
the everlasting snows on the pinnacles, and the 
mosquitoes increased in numbers and ferocious¬ 
ness. 

“ The higher we go the worse they get,” com¬ 
plained Stacy Brown. “ Isn’t it queer how that 
pink tint hangs on? ” 

“ Say, girls,” bubbled Emma Dean, “ what if it 
should prove to be ice cream in reality? ” 

“ In that event I know someone who never 
would go home,” laughed Nora. 

“ Two someones,” reflected Stacy, with a far¬ 
away, longing look in his eyes. 


GRACE HARLOWE 


176 


CHAPTER XVIII 


AT THE “ TOP OF THE WORLD ” 



% HE morning dawned with the sky a 
molten green and gold. The mountain 
peak and the high ridges were a beauti¬ 
ful pink, and below them lay the green and blue 
of the meadow like a velvet carpet. 

“ Wonderful! ” breathed the girls in chorus. 

“ Could anything be more beautiful? ” mur¬ 
mured Grace. 

“ This is worth all the hardships we have en¬ 
dured,” declared Elfreda. 

The Overlanders continued to admire the scene 
until breakfast was ready. Immediately after the 
meal the journey was resumed, each one eager 
to reach the pink snows above that held so great 
a fascination for all. They came to the snow line 
late in the day. The ponies were left in charge 
of Woo Smith to remain until the party returned 
from the high peak of the Sierras, which was now 
their immediate objective. 

Now that they were close to it, they discov¬ 
ered that the snow really was pink. No one 




IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


177 


seemed able to explain this mystery until Tom 
announced it as his opinion that the pink shade 
was due to a tiny bright red flower whose petals 
were found imbedded in the snow. Stacy 
scooped up a handful of snow and tasted it, and 
then made a wry face. 

“ It tastes like turpentine,” he declared. 

The Overland Riders danced and capered about 
in the snow like school children, and tried to 
snowball each other, but found the snow so 
crumbly that it could not be rolled into balls. 
This they overcame by wetting handfuls of snow 
from their canteens, and then, ere they even 
thought of making camp, they had a merry snow¬ 
balling battle thousands of feet above sea level. 
They battled until their breaths gave out in the 
rarefied air — threw snowballs at each other until 
almost exhausted. 

“ Never mind. Don’t wolly till to-mollow,” 
comforted Stacy Brown. 

With the coming of night a chill settled over 
the mountain, beside which the previous nights 
were almost sultry, and a damp, gray cloud hid 
the lower reaches of the peaks like a great gray 
blanket. The Overlanders were glad that they 
were above rather than below that cloud, and 
they hugged their cook fire, though it was far 
from being a roaring one, for they did not have 
fuel to waste. 


12 - Grace Harloioe in the High Sierras 



178 


GRACE HARLOWE 


Tom Gray, who, before the evening was far ad¬ 
vanced, went out to examine the strange twisted 
little trees that grew here and there, discovered 
that they were full of pitch. He said nothing 
to his companions, but, moving back a little dis¬ 
tance from the camp, he tested one with a match. 
The trunk of the twisted tree flared instantly. 
He put out the blaze with snow and returned 
to camp. 

“ How would you folks like a real camp-fire? ” 
he asked. 

“ There ain’t no such thing,” mocked Emma. 

Grace gazed at her husband inquiringly, know¬ 
ing quite well that Tom had some plan for a fire 
in mind. 

“ The easiest thing in the world, my dear 
friends,” chuckled Tom. “ All that is needed to 
make a regular conflagration is the know-how.” 
Tom struck a match against the trunk of a small 
scrubby tree against which he was standing, and 
held the match close to the trunk until he felt 
the heat, then sprang away from it. The tree 
blazed up gloriously. 

“ I did it with my magic wand! ” he cried, wav* 
ing his arms dramatically. 

Exclamations of wonder greeted the achieve¬ 
ment, and the Overlanders gathered about the 
blaze, holding out their hands to catch some of 
the warmth. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


179 


“ Me savvy nicee piecee fire,” observed Chunky 
solemnly. 

“However did you do it, Tom?” wondered 
Nora. 

“ The tree is filled with pitch,” answered Tom 
Gray. “When we get ready to turn in we will 
light another one. I don’t suppose we shall get 
any w r armth from it, but w T e can hear it crackle, 
which will be some comfort.” 

That night the Overlanders made their beds 
under an overhanging rock where there was no 
snow, and were lulled to sleep by another of Tom 
Gray’s burning trees. They awakened in the 
morning again stiff with cold, but half an hour 
after sunrise they had fully recovered their 
spirits and were making preparations for the long 
hard hike ahead of them. 

Each of the men carried a pack on his back, 
leaving the girls to carry such provisions as they 
thought would be needed. Even the rifles had 
been left behind with Woo, the mountain- 
climbers carrying no arms but their revolvers. 
Hopes, an axe and a shovel were included in the 
equipment and they finally set out for what El- 
freda Briggs characterized as “ The Top of the 
World.” 

The peak of the great mountain was reached 
late in the afternoon, with all hands well tired 
out. They found the summit of the peak strewn 


180 


GRACE HARLOWE 


with huge granite slabs, from some of which the 
snow had been blown away in spots, forming 
little scooped-out cups in the pink mantle. 

“Well, now that we have enjoyed this punk 
view, suppose we get down to some place where 
we can make camp and sleep/’ suggested Stacy. 

“ This is where we are to sleep to-night/’ 
answered Tom. 

“ What! Here? ” gasped Stacy. 

“ Yes. Did we not come up here for that pur¬ 
pose? ” 

Stacy shivered, and glanced down over the 
glittering snow field, then shivered some more, 
but made no further comment. 

“ This will be the first time that I ever slept 
in a snow bank, and I trust it may be the last,” 
observed Emma resignedly. “ Last night we 
found a nice dry spot for our beds, but up here — 
Br-r-r-r! ” 

“ You will be as comfortable as though you 
were in your own bed at home,” promised Grace. 

“ I wish to goodness I had your imagination,” 
grumbled Chunky. “ It must be beautiful to be 
able to dream things the way you do.” 

No fuel for a fire had been brought along on 
this last leg of the climb above timber line, so 
supper was a cold meal. Everyone felt so miser¬ 
able after supper that the Overlanders with one 
accord began preparing to roll up in their blan- 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


181 


kets for the night. Hippy had already dug 
trenches in the snow for the party to sleep in, 
so they might be out of the wind. The girls 
talked chatteringly of everything they could think 
of, to assist them in forgetting then* misery, then 
crawled into their trenches and tightly rolled 
themselves up in their blankets. 

“ This is the first time I ever went to bed with 
my boots on,” complained Elfreda. “ Should I 
live until morning I surely shall have something 
to brag about.” 

“Why, girls, this is an ideal summer resort,” 
laughingly chided Grace. 

The response was a chorus of dismal groans. 
For a few moments after that the Overlanders 
lay gazing up at the bright stars, then a gradual 
warmth overspread their shivering bodies, and 
one by one they dropped off to sleep, now nearly 
thirteen thousand feet above sea level. 


182 


GRACE HARLOWE 


CHAPTER XIX 

BOWLING IN NATURE'S ALLEY 

ONTRARY to expectations the Overland 



Riders slept soundly all through the 


night, but the moment they crawled from 
under their blankets in the morning, they began 
to shiver. 

“ Come on! Take a run with me," urged Tom. 

“ Please go away and let me die," moaned 
Emma. 

“ We must have exercise to start our blood 
circulating," reminded Hippy. 

“ I don’t want exercise. I want something to 
warm me up on the inside," protested Stacy. 

Grace and Elfreda, holding hands, were already 
dancing about in grotesque fashion, taking long 
draughts of air into their lungs, the color rising 
to their faces as the circulation of their blood 
responded to their lively movements. 

“ Never mind, folks," comforted Hippy. “ If 
you will all take a lively sprint, then a snow- 
wash, I will give you something that will please 
you and fix you up in great shape." 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


183 


" I shall be past all human help long before 
that,” answered Emma. 

“ Why don’t you transmigrate yourself to a 
warmer clime for an hour or so? ” suggested Stacy. 

Tom Gray nodded to Hippy, whereupon Lieu¬ 
tenant Wingate took from his pack a tiny alcohol 
stove, which he filled from a small bottle and 
lighted. Over the stove he placed a coffee pot 
full of white snow dug from underneath the crust 
where it was not tainted with what Stacy had 
been pleased to characterize as a “ turpentine 
taste.” As the snow melted in the coffee pot, 
more snow was added until there was sufficient 
for their use. The Overlanders, quickly discover¬ 
ing that something unusual was going on, ran to 
the coffee-maker. 

“ Wha—at’s this? ” demanded Elfreda. 

“ An alcohol stove — a hot cup of coffee for 
each in a few moments,” chuckled Lieutenant 
Wingate. 

“ Hippy Wingate, did you have that last 
night? ” demanded Emma. 

“ Yes.” 

“ And you let us suffer with cold and eat a 
coffeeless supper? ” rebuked Nora Wingate. 

“ You lived through it. Why kick, now that 
you are about to have a warm drink? ” 

“We ought to throw you off the mountain,” 
declared Grace. 


184 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ Don’t do it till he gets the coffee ready,” 
urged Stacy. 

“ The reason that I did not use the alcohol kit 
last night was that I had only enough alcohol to 
burn the stove for one meal,” explained Hippy. 
“ I knew that you would be in more urgent need 
of coffee in the morning than you were last night.” 

“ I withdraw my suggestion that we throw you 
over,” laughed Grace. 

“ Are you ready? ” called Lieutenant Wingate. 
“ The coffee is.” 

“ Are we ready? Just watch us,” cried Emma 
Dean. 

Each had an individual cup, and Hippy passed 
lumps of sugar to them from his own kit. They 
had no milk, but there was no complaint, for the 
Overlanders were glad enough to get the coffee 
black. This, with some biscuit and cold venison, 
comprised the meal, but they declared unani¬ 
mously that they had never had a more appetizing 
breakfast. 

“ I have decided,” announced Stacy finally, 
“not to be a party to the plan to throw Uncle 
Hip overboard — at least not to-day. Good¬ 
morning, Sun! Welcome to our happy home,” 
he added, bowing to the rising sun. 

Tom called attention to two birds circling over 
them, which he said were jays looking for crumbs, 
whereupon the girls broke up pieces of hard tack 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


185 


and sprinkled them over the ground a few yards 
from the camp. The jays swooped down on the 
crumbs, chattering and scolding. Grace then 
suggested that, having reached the “ top of the 
world,” they resume their journey and explore 
the lower ridges, taking the whole day for their 
return to camp. The first quarter of a mile down 
was a slide rather than a walk, but the Over¬ 
landers made merry over their frequent mishaps, 
finally reaching a long granite slope on the south 
side of the mountain where there was little snow. 
There, the sun’s rays blazed down all day long, 
and there many sparkling streams had their 
origin. 

About them the ground was strewn with 
boulders from the size of a man’s head up to great 
spheres of flint-like stone, many as round and 
glistening as though they had been turned and 
polished by man. 

“ Oh, look at the beautiful lake! ” cried Nora 
enthusiastically, pointing to a body of water in 
the valley far below them. “ What is it?” 

“ It doesn’t appear on my map. I don’t know 
what it is,” answered Tom. 

“ Perhaps it is the Aerial Lake that we have 
been warned against,” suggested Grace. 

“ I was thinking of that myself,” nodded Tom. 
“ There are trees growing in the lake, but what 
are those glistening objects farther out? ” 


186 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ Rocks/’ replied Grace, after focusing her 
binoculars on the shining marks. 

“ I wonder if I can hit one of them,” said Stacy, 
picking up a round stone which he sent rolling 
down the smooth granite slope. The stone shot 
over a broad, shelving rock, leaped far out into 
the air, then, after what seemed an interminable 
time, splashed into the lake. The Overlanders 
saw a tiny spurt of water as the stone struck the 
surface of the lake. 

“ Folks, I’ve got an idea. Greatest thing you 
ever heard of, too/’ cried Hippy. 

“ Throw it over the cliff,” suggested Emma. 
“ The very best possible use to which you can put 
your ideas.” 

“ That is exactly what I am going to do, my 
dear Emma. Just watch my smoke.” 

The Overland Riders were puzzled to know 
what Hippy had in mind. First, he cut several 
tough lodge poles, then selecting a boulder half 
as high as himself, Hippy easily pried it from its 
resting place with a pole and started it down the 
slope. The boulder soon began to roll, gaining 
momentum with the seconds, striking fire as now 
and then it came into contact with sharp projec¬ 
tions of rock. 

The boulder finally hit the shelving slabs of 
granite at the edge of the cliff with a mighty 
crash and leaped out into the air. The party 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


187 


watched its projectile-like flight with fascinated 
gaze. 

Then came the splash into the lake. The 
Overlanders did not hear the splash but they saw 
the water spurt up into the air like a miniature 
geyser, and fall in a silver shower over a wide 
area. 

“ Hurrah! ” shouted Stacy, tossing his hat into 
the air. 

Tom Gray was excited, and so were his com¬ 
panions. Stacy Brown was already prying at a 
boulder with a pole, while Hippy had run to an¬ 
other one and was digging an opening into which 
to insert his lever, using a flat stone for a fulcrum. 
Many of the boulders lay resting on the slope 
and thus were easily thrown out of balance. 

“Wait!” cried Elfreda. “We will have a 
game of bowling.” 

“ Yes, and the highest one that was ever 
played,” exclaimed Grace. 

“ And Ill be Rip Van Winkle. Show me a 
soft place to lie down and sleep,” cried Stacy. 

“ Where are the ninepins? ” demanded Emma. 
“ One cannot bowl without having something to 
bowl at.” 

“ Use the trees down yonder in the lake,” sug¬ 
gested Hippy. “ The one who makes the first 
score will be free of camp duties for the next 
twenty-four hours.” 


188 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ I won’t play,” declared Chunky. “ I know 
you want to work some sharp game on me.” 

“ And the one who makes no score at all must 
do the work for all those who do make scores,” 
added Elfreda laughingly. 

The fat boy sat down stubbornly. 

“ Go on with your game,” he said. 

“ What’s the matter? Don’t you want to play, 
Honey? ” asked Nora. 

“ No. I’m going to be the umpire,” answered 
Stacy. 

“ As you please,” laughed Hippy. “ You will 
have to do the chores anyway. Folks, I am going 
to try to hit the third tree to the left of that group 
of rocks near the middle of the lake. Now watch 
me.” 

Hippy started a rock, which he had selected 
with great care. It boomed over the ledge, ob¬ 
served in breathless silence by the spectators, 
then hurtled far out over the lake, finally smash¬ 
ing into the blue waters, throwing spray high in 
the air. 

“A miss!” shouted the Overlanders. 

“ He missed it by half a mile,” jeered the um¬ 
pire. “ Why don’t you change your sights? You 
are shooting over the mark.” 

Tom took the next try. He balanced his rock, 
after having pried it loose, and made it ready for 
the fall, and sent it crashing along on its way. 



189 



















190 


GRACE HARLOWE 


As nearly as the eye could measure, Tom’s boulder 
fell some twenty rods to the right of the tree 
aimed at. Tom then made ready a boulder for 
Grace. She failed to hit the lake, and derisive 
howls greeted her effort. Elfreda and Nora did 
a little better than that. Both hit the lake, but 
nowhere near the mark the}^ had aimed at. 

Stacy got up slowly and yawned. 

“ You folks make me tired. You ought to go 
to night school and learn how to roll stones. 
Why, even our little transmigrating Emma could 
beat you sharps at throwing stones. Emma, will 
you roll if I fix a boulder for you? ” questioned 
Stacy. 

“ Yes, if you promise not to play tricks on me.” 

Stacy winked at Emma and nodded sideways 
to the others, as indicating that the trick was to 
be played on them, then snatching up his pole 
he ran to a boulder that he had some time since 
selected for his own. 

After prying the rock into proper position, 
squinting and sighting and surveying the rock 
from all sides, he nodded to Emma and offered 
the pole to her. 

“ Take it easy. If you can’t move the rock 
I’ll lend you a hand,” whispered Stacy. 

“ Ladies and gentlemen, you are now about to 
witness one of Emma Dean’s most notable trans¬ 
migration feats. Keep your eyes on the per- 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


191 


former and you will see that she has nothing up 
her sleeve — nor under her hat,” announced 
Hippy Wingate. 

“ Tip it over! ” commanded Stacy, throwing his 
weight on the pole with Emma. “ Watch the 
two twin-trees down there, but look sharply or 
you won’t see them when they disappear from the 
face of the earth,” he warned, strolling back 
towards his companions. 

Emma’s boulder, not being quite round, moved 
very slowly at first, and once it threatened to stop 
altogether and go no further, but finally, gaining 
new impetus, it started savagely on its way to 
the ledge, where it did a clumsy hop into the 
air, then dived for the lake. 

“ It is going to hit the lake! ” cried Grace. 

“ What did you think we were trying to hit? ” 
demanded Stacy. “ If it is a hit — if little 
Emma makes a killing, I did it. If she misses, 
she did it.” 

“ It’s a hit! ” yelled Lieutenant Wingate. 

“You don’t say?” wondered Stacy, turning 
quickly, the most amazed member of the Over¬ 
land party. 

Cheers greeted the achievement as two trees 
standing side by side in the lake disappeared as 
if by magic. Stacy threw out his chest and 
paraded back and forth with folded arms, an 
expression of dignified superiority on his face. 


192 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ I don’t have to work for a whole week/’ ob¬ 
served Stacy. 

“ Oh, yes you do,” answered Elfreda. “ You 
know you weren’t in the game — you are only 
the umpire. Further, Emma won the roll, and 
will have a vacation until to-morrow afternoon.” 

“ There goes my Hippy’s roll! ” cried Nora, and 
for the moment attention was centered on Lieu¬ 
tenant Wingate’s rolling boulder.' It made a 
clean hit, knocking down a tree close to the water. 

“ The racket must be terrific down there,” said 
Grace. “ Hippy, you surely raised a disturbance 
with that last shot.” 

Tom tried once more and sent a boulder into 
the lake. The Overlanders plainly heard the im¬ 
pact, and could see a shower of broken rock being 
distributed over the surface of the lake. 

Suddenly a new sound smote the ears of the 
Overland Riders, a familiar sound that they had 
heard many times in France and on their journeys 
in their own land. 

“What’s that?” demanded Stacy. 

“ That? ” answered Hippy. “ Why, that is a 
butterfly lullaby. You surely ought to know 
that sound by this time.” 

“ Woo, woo, woo! ” was the sound that smote 
their ears again. 

“Down, all of you! We’re under fire!” 
shouted Tom Gray. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


193 


CHAPTER XX 

LEAD AND MYSTERY IN THE AIR 

RE — are we attacked? ” wailed Emma 
r-\ Dean. 

^ Bullets are coming from somewhere, 

that is certain,” answered Hippy, raising his head 
from the ground on which he, as well as his com¬ 
panions, had thrown themselves at the first shot. 

Following the last two shots, the reports of 
rifles were distinctly heard by each member of 
the party, and each pair of eyes was straining to 
locate the source of the shooting. 

“ Oh, it must be a mistake,” cried Emma. 

“ That doesn’t help us any,” replied Tom Gray. 
“ But I do wish we had our rifles.” 

“ Don’t wolly till to-mollow,” advised Stacy. 
Hippy raised himself to a sitting position and 
waved his handkerchiefs 

“ Woo, woo, woo! — Bang!” 

Hippy threw himself over backwards, his feet 
kicking up into the air, his attitude being so 
funny that the Overlanders laughed heartily. 
Their laughter, however, quickly subsided, when 


13 - Graoe Harlowe in the High Sierras 



194 


GRACE HARLOWE 


they recalled that the last shot had passed very 
close to them. 

Tom Gray had been listening to the whistle of 
the bullets and to the reports that followed, and 
the result of his listening and looking was the 
conclusion that the shooters were getting the 
range, and that, undoubtedly, smokeless powder 
was being used. 

“ I don’t care whether they see me or not,” ex¬ 
claimed Hippy, getting to his feet, but no sooner 
had he done so than a bullet whistled so close to 
him that, as he declared later, he felt the hot 
breath of it on his cheek. 

“ Did you see that? ” he cried, throwing himself 
on the ground. 

“ No. I didn’t see it. I may have sharp eyes, 
but they aren’t sharp enough to see a bullet on 
the wing,” retorted Stacy. 

“ What I cannot understand is, why they are 
shooting at us,” wondered Elfreda. 

“ Perhaps they think we have been throwing 
stones at them,” suggested Emma. 

“ Rolling stones gather no moss,” interjected 
Stacy. “ Possibly, however, our rolling stones 
came near gathering in some parties down in the 
valley, and they are retaliating by shooting at us.” 

“ Girls! Let’s get out of here,” cried Grace, 
springing up. “ I am weary of hiding.” 

“ Get down! ” shouted several voices. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


195 


Grace gave no heed to the command, nor to the 
bullet that sang over her head, but when one 
barely grazed her cheek, she decided that she was 
quite ready to join her companions on the ground 
again. 

“ Are we going to lie here all day and let those 
ruffians shoot at us? ” demanded Emma. 

“ The only other alternative is to crawl away,” 
answered Tom. 

“ Crawl where? ” questioned Grace. 

“ To that ridge to the right of us.” 

“ I’m blest if I do! ” retorted Hippy, getting 
up and walking deliberately towards the rocks 
indicated by Tom Gray. 

The others, with the exception of Stacy Brown, 
not to be outdone in courage by Lieutenant Win¬ 
gate, got up and followed him, not hurriedly, but 
walking slowly, keeping some distance between 
them, and in this way finally reaching the ridge 
and safety. Several shots were fired at them on 
the way, but all went wide of the mark. 

“Where is Stacy? Quick! Maybe he has 
been hit,” urged Nora almost hysterically. 

Grace sprang back and peered around the corner 
of the rocks. 

“ Oh, girls! Look at him, will you?” she 
cried. 

Leaning as far out from the rocks as they 
dared, the Overlanders discovered the missing 


196 


GRACE HARLOWE 


Chunky. He was flat on the ground on his 
stomach, wriggling along in a fair imitation of a 
serpent. 

“Get up and walk, you tenderfoot! ” laughed 
Hippy. “ What are you afraid of? ” 

“ Nothing. I just happened to think how, 
when I was a baby, I used to creep to the pantry 
to pick up crumbs, so I thought Ed see if I had 
forgotten how,” answered Stacy. 

“ You are a fine hero, aren’t you? ” observed 
Emma sarcastically, when Stacy, having finally 
reached the protection of the rocks, got up and 
brushed the dirt from his clothes. 

“ No. All the heroes are dead. I don’t want 
to be a hero. What’s the news from the front? ” 

“Impossible!” muttered Tom, laughing in 
spite of himself. Tom had been pondering, won¬ 
dering, trying to account satisfactorily to himself 
for this attempt on their lives. 

“What do you make of it?” asked Elfreda, 
nodding at him. 

“ It may have been accidental,” he replied. 

Grace shook her head. 

“ No, they were shooting at us,” declared 

Hippy. 

“ I have been wondering, thinking about what 
Mr. Giddings told us at the ‘ Lazy J ’ ranch,” 
said Miss Briggs. “ You remember what he said 
about the mysterious Aerial Lake, don’t you? ” 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


197 


“ It is my opinion that we have been bombard¬ 
ing that very same lake/' declared Grace. “ That, 
however, does not explain the shots." 

“ Perhaps not," returned Elfreda, “ but it does 
go a long way towards proving that there is 
something in what the foreman of the ‘ Lazy J 
told us. I, for one, am in favor of giving that 
lake a wide berth." 

“ No, no," protested Hippy and Grace. “ Let's 
find out what the mystery is," added Grace. 

“ I'll stay back and watch the horses while you 
are gone," offered Stacy. 

“ Rack to camp for us, now. To-morrow we 
shall decide what is best to be done," advised 
Tom. 

Having reached the safe side of the mountain, 
the party took a direct course for their camp, 
which was located close to what they had named 
“ Bear Mountain," because its top strongly re¬ 
sembled an ambling bear. They found pretty 
rough going until they reached a point about a 
mile from the camp, and there Tom suggested 
that they move more cautiously, and not blunder 
into camp, not knowing what they might find 
there. 

They had approached within sight of their 
camp when Hippy halted and beckoned his com¬ 
panions to him. 

“What is it?." questioned Tom. 


198 


GRACE HARLOWE 


For answer, Hippy pointed to a jutting rock 
which they knew lay just back of the camp itself. 
There, outlined on the rock, was a figure. It did 
not require very keen eyes to recognize the 
figure, even at that distance. 

“Woo! Thank goodness,” exclaimed Miss 
Briggs. 

“ IT1 give him a yell,” volunteered Stacy. 

“No, no! ” protested Grace. There was that 
in the attitude of the Chinaman that appealed to 
Grace’s bump of caution. “Wait until he sees 
us,” she counseled. “ Trust Woo to shout, unless 
there be good reason why he should not.” 

The party moved on cautiously, thus far well 
screened by foliage, but the instant they appeared 
in the open, the guide saw them and began ex¬ 
citedly waving his arms. 

“ Do you see? ” nodded Grace. 

“ He does seem to be excited about something,” 
agreed Tom. 

“ If there is likely to be trouble, perhaps I had 
better fall back as sort of reserve,” suggested 
Stacy. “ In case of trouble it is a wise plan to 
have reserves, you know.” 

No one paid the slightest attention to Stacy’s 
suggestion, nor did they increase their pace, not 
wishing to show that they shared the excitement 
of the guide, though there was a suspicion in 
their minds as to the cause of that excitement. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


199 


As they drew nearer, Woo Smith clambered 
down from his perch and trotted out to meet 
them. His face expressed neither pleasure nor 
alarm. 

“ Good-afternoon, Mr. Smith,” greeted Emma 
with dignity. 

“ Are the ponies all safe? ” smiled Grace. 

“ Him velly good.” 

“ Then what are you stewing about? ” blurted 
out Stacy Brown. 

“ Anything wrong, Smith?” asked Tom Gray 
anxiously. 

“ Les. Bang, bang! ” 

“ You mean bing, bing, don’t you? ” cut in 
Stacy. 

“Me savvy bang, bang! ” returned the guide. 

“ Oh, let it go at that,” urged Hippy. “ It 
doesn’t make much difference either way, whether 
it is ‘ bang, bang ’ or ‘ bing, bing ’! ” 

“ Me savvy boom, boom, too,” added Woo. 

“No, no. You mean bang, bang!” insisted 
Chunky. 

“ For goodness sake, give the poor fellow a 
chance,” begged Elfreda laughingly. “You will 
get him so befuddled that he will not know what 
he means. Woo, what is the trouble? Have 
you seen strangers about? ” 

The guide’s queue bobbed vigorously, as he 
pointed to a ridge on the other side of the canyon. 


200 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ Me savvy man there. Me savvy boom, 
boom! Bang, bang! ” 

Grace’s face lighted up. 

“ We understand, Woo. You heard guns and 
you saw a man over there,” she nodded. “ Did 
the man see you? ” 

The Chinaman shook his head. 

“ Do you think he discovered the camp?” 
asked Tom Gray. 

Woo shook his head again. 

“ He heard the boom of our bowling game and 
the shots following. That seems quite clear, but 
there appears to be no reason why we should be 
excited about it,” said Lieutenant Wingate. 
Grace said she did not agree with him. 

“ What the guide says, indicates to me that 
the stranger was not only seeking to wing us, but 
that he was looking for our camp. Was that all 
you saw, Woo? ” 

“ No. Me savvy woman.” 

“ What’s that?” demanded Hippy sharply. 
The Overlanders’ interest was aroused anew. 

“ Me savvy woman. Woman come close and 
peek. Woman see camp, then go ’way. Br-r-r! 
Big piecee woman make ugly face! ” 

“ Discovered! ” exclaimed Hippy Wingate 
dramatically. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


201 


CHAPTER XXI 

THE FACE IN THE WATERS 

4 4 WOMAN! ” breathed Miss Briggs. 

“ You must be mistaken,” differed 
X JL Nora. 

“ What did she look like? ” questioned Grace. 

“ Me savvy no good,” answered Woo with an 
emphasis that drew a laugh from the Overland 
Riders. 

“ How strange,” murmured Emma. “ What 
could a woman be doing in this awful country? ” 

“ Perhaps she lives here,” suggested Elfreda. 
“ I should not be surprised at anything in the 
High Sierras.” 

“ Show me where she was when you saw her,” 
requested Tom Gray. 

Woo led him to a huge boulder, about a hundred 
yards from the camp. 

“ Me savvy piecee woman peek ovel locks,” 
said the guide. 

“ A woman peeked over the rocks there. Is 
that it? ” asked Elfreda, the entire party having 
followed Woo out to the scene of his discovery. 


202 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ Les ” 

“ What did she do then? ” persisted Tom. 

“ Him go ’way plenty quick.” 

Grace and Hippy hurried forward and began 
examining the ground, but found no trace, no 
footprints, nothing that would indicate that a 
person had been there. 

“ Woo, it is my opinion that you went to sleep 
and had nightmare,” declared Hippy laughingly. 
“No one has been here. See! She would have 
left footprints at least.” 

“ Piecee woman go ’way,” insisted Woo. 

“ Don’t wolly till to-mollow,” imitated Stacy 
Brown. “ Woo, got anything loose about the 
house? I’ve been living on pink snow for so long 
that I feel like a snowbird in distress. Food is 
what my system demands.” 

“ A bird, did you say? ” questioned Emma. 
“ I agree with you that you are something of a 
bird, but not of the snowbird species.” 

Grace was the only one of the party who be¬ 
lieved that their guide really had seen a human 
being spying on the camp. The others, after 
some discussion, dismissed the matter from mind, 
and devoted their attention to the supper which 
Woo had prepared and served. A much more 
comfortable night was spent in this lower altitude, 
and, with the rising of the sun, the Overlanders 
prepared to resume their journey. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


203 


The party was still at a considerable elevation 
above the lake, which had sunk out of sight as 
if it had never existed, due to the fact that huge 
granite shelves intervened between them and the 
mysterious water. They judged that the lake 
must lie at an elevation of close to eight 
thousand feet above sea level. 

“ I smell something/' exclaimed Hippy as they 
were dismounting for luncheon and a rest that 
day. 

“ So do I,” agreed Stacy Brown. “ Someone 
is baking bread and using salt yeast. Lead me to 
it, quick! ” 

“ What you smell is a dead campfire,” Tom 
Gray informed the fat boy. “ Unless I am greatly 
mistaken, the fire has not been out long, either. 
Come on, folks, help me to find it. It may give 
us some information that we need.” 

By proceeding against the gentle breeze that 
was blowing they w r ere enabled, after considerable 
searching about, to locate the dead campfire. 

“ Here it is! ” cried Tom, scraping aside a cover 
of leaves and grass that had been spread over the 
ashes to hide the tell-tale evidence. “ See! The 
embers have been kicked aside and water poured 
over them. It is the water poured on the fire 
that produces the strong odor that we smell.” 

“ How long ago was that done, do you think? ” 
asked Hippy. 


204 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ Several hours ago, I should say.” 

Hippy made a circuit of the camp site that 
they had come upon, and returning, announced 
that he had made a further discovery — the spot 
at which horses had been turned loose. 

“ There appears to have been four of them, 
though I cannot be positive about that,” he said. 
“ I merely saw the footprints of four animals as 
they started on their way northward.” 

“ But suppose they are looking for us? ” ex¬ 
claimed Miss Briggs. “ If they are headed north 
they are headed towards the place where we were 
fired upon, are they not? ” 

“ Oh, don’t worry,” laughed Hippy. “ They 
have a nice, long, rough journey ahead of them. 
We seem to have missed each other very cleverly. 
However, they may be nothing more than an 
exploring party, and we have been so stirred up 
over what we have heard of the High Country 
that every little thing takes on an importance 
that doesn’t belong to it.” 

“ I wish I could make a long speech like that 
and get away with it,” observed Stacy admiringly. 

“ Young man, you say altogether too much as 
it is,” retorted Tom Gray. “ I think that perhaps 
it might be well for us to take an inventory of 
our surroundings, as well as of what lies imme¬ 
diately ahead of us, before we start out,” he 
added. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


205 


Hippy volunteered to do a little scouting, and 
Grace said she would accompany him, as any¬ 
thing of that sort appealed to her, so they set out 
together, but soon separated and took different 
courses. 

Grace first of all sought a high point from 
which she obtained a very good view of the sur¬ 
rounding country, but saw nothing of a disturbing 
nature. A deer stood outlined on a shelf of rock 
a few hundred feet above and to the south of 
her; a bear ambled across an open space, zig¬ 
zagging his way down. Bears do not like to go 
straight down a hill or mountain-side. The fact 
that their front legs are shorter than the hind legs 
makes going straight down a steep incline diffi¬ 
cult, so, unless pursued, they ordinarily follow 
the switchback principle, zigzagging along until 
they reach the bottom. 

The Overland girl watched the ambling beast 
with interest until it finally disappeared. She 
had no doubt that it was descending to the valley 
in search of food, lured there, perhaps, by the 
scent of an abandoned camp. Except for these 
two animals, she was unable to discover any sign 
of life, nor was there a wisp of smoke within her 
vision that might indicate the presence of human 
beings. 

While Grace was making a general observation 
of the landscape, Lieutenant Wingate was en- 


206 


GRACE HARLOWE 


deavoring to follow the trail of the unknown 
horsemen to determine, as definitely as possible, 
the direction that they had taken. Their trail, 
which he followed for nearly a mile, still con¬ 
tinued towards the peak, and it was his belief 
that that was their destination, or at least some 
other near-by point where they might hope to 
meet up with the Overland party. 

Hippy pondered over this, and found himself 
wondering what the motive of the horsemen 
might be. Still pondering, he began retracing his 
steps to meet Grace at a point decided upon 
before they started away on separate trails. 

Lieutenant Wingate was cautiously making his 
way through a thick growth of bushes, watching 
his step and listening for the familiar whirring 
warning of a rattler, when a sudden interruption 
occurred, an interruption that caused Hippy to 
throw himself on the ground, and lie still. 

The interruption was a bullet, a bullet that 
clipped his hat, nipping a piece out of the brim, 
and giving the Overlander a scare. At first he 
thought the shot might have been fired by one 
of his own party, and was about to call out a 
warning, but changed his mind and began wrig¬ 
gling away from the scene. He had, by this time, 
forgotten all about the snake peril, his one burn¬ 
ing desire being to get as far away from that 
locality as possible in the shortest possible time. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


207 


Hippy found it slow going, because he twisted 
and turned so much, following as crooked a trail 
as he could lay out for himself, for the purpose 
of confusing the author of that shot, should the 
fellow decide to follow him. 

Suddenly Hippy thought of Grace. She, too, 
might be in peril. His first inclination was to 
get up and run to their rendezvous, but upon 
second thought he came to the conclusion that 
it would be wiser to make an effort to discover 
the one who had shot at him. With this in view, 
Lieutenant Wingate began making a detour with 
the intention of coming up behind the shooter, 
Hippy having a good general idea of the position 
occupied by the man at the time the shot was 
fired. 

All his efforts came to naught. He had spent 
nearly an hour in stalking his man before he 
realized that he was wasting time. 

While he was engaged in his quest Grace had 
sat listening. She had heard the shot, and 
reasoned that it had been fired from somewhere 
in Hippy’s direction. There being no answering 
shot, however, she forced herself to believe that 
her companion had shot at a snake, and decided 
to proceed on to the place where they were to 
meet before returning to camp. 

Grace took a different route to reach the spot, 
and this route took her near a swiftly moving 


208 


GRACE HARLOWE 


stream of water that Sowed down into the lake. 
The stream was wide where she came upon it, 
and to find a suitable fording place the Overland 
girl continued on further up-stream. Her way 
led her under an overhang of granite rocks several 
feet higher than her head. Beneath her was a 
pool, deeper than the stream below, and in the 
pool she saw fish darting. The pool seemed to 
be fairly alive with them. 

Grace’s mind instantly turned to what the 
foreman of the “ Lazy J ” ranch had said about 
the golden trout in the High Sierras. 

“ Oh, wouldn’t it be wonderful if I had dis¬ 
covered a pool of those live nuggets! ” she cried, 
throwing herself down and gazing into the pool, 
on which the sunlight shone, mirroring her own 
face and the rocks behind her on its surface. 

“ They aren’t golden trout at all; they are 
mountain trout, and oh, what beauties! I must 
tell Hippy and have him get a mess for us. I 
reckon that golden trout story is a myth. How¬ 
ever, golden or speckled beauties, it is all the same 
to the Overlanders. A mess of fish is what they 
need. I — ” 

The Overland girl paused suddenly. The smile 
on the face she saw in the water faded and a 
catch interrupted her breath. 

“ Wha—at is it? ” she gasped. 

In the water, beside her own, another face was 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


209 


reflected. It was the face of a woman. At first, 
Grace believed that some trick of nature was 
showing her a double of her own face, distorted 
and unrecognizable, but she instantly realized 
that this could not be possible. The face that she 
was looking down into on the surface of the pool 
was as hideous a countenance as she had ever 
gazed upon, scarred, distorted and crowned by a 
head of matted hair that bristled at its top and 
hung in tangled skeins over the ears. The face 
was all that she could see. 

For an instant the eyes of the girl and the 
woman above her seemed to meet on the face of 
the waters. 

Grace whirled and sprang up, revolver in hand, 
for there was menace in the eyes that she had 
been looking into. 

Quick as the Overland girl was, Grace Harlowe 
found herself gazing up at a barren shelf of rock, 
unoccupied, silent as a tomb, with not a sign of 
life to be seen, either there or anywhere about her. 

It was inexplicable. A feeling of something 
akin to terror took possession of Grace Harlowe, 
then all at once, panic seized her, and, uttering a 
little cry, she fled on fleet foot back down the 
stream, unheeding where it might lead her, hoping 
and thinking only of getting away from that 
which had given her such a fright. 


u— —Grace Harlowe in the High Sierras 



210 


GRACE HARLOWE 


CHAPTER XXII 

THE MYSTERY OF AERIAL LAKE 

G RACE ran on until suddenly halted by a 
shout from Hippy Wingate. 

“ Whither away, my pretty maid? ” 
cried Hippy. 

“ Oh! You gave me a start,” answered Grace 
breathlessly. “ I’ve had such a fright, Hippy. 
I have seen the most awful face that I ever looked 
upon.” 

“ In the words of the guide, ‘ don’t wolly till 
to-mollow.’ What did it look like? Tell me 
about it.” 

Grace told him what had occurred and described 
as best she could the face that she had seen 
mirrored in the pool. 

“ That sounds like the woman Woo saw watch¬ 
ing the camp,” he nodded. “ I think we ought 
to go back to camp and tell the folks what you 
have discovered.” 

“ You mean it sounds like Woo’s description of 
her,” answered Grace laughingly. 

“You know what I mean. Come on! 


a 


211 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 

The Overlanders listened breathlessly to Grace 
Harlowe’s story of her experience, but no one had 
an explanation to offer. They asked her if she 
had gone up to the rock to see if anyone were 
hiding there, but Grace said she had not done so 
because she was too frightened. 

“ I've never lost my head before, but I surely 
did this time/’ she added, smiling in an embar¬ 
rassed sort of way. "I found a pool full of 
mountain trout — no, not golden trout — and I 
would suggest that one of you men go out and 
see if you can’t catch a mess. Trout would be 
relished by all, including even myself, scared as 
I am.” 

“ Trout! Me for them,” cried Hippy. “You 
come along, Tom, and perhaps, between us, we 
may be able to find the beautiful creature that 
gave Grace the first real scare of her life. I’m 
glad you have found something that frightens 
you,” chuckled Hippy. “ Me for the fish now.” 

Tom accompanied Lieutenant Wingate, leaving 
Stacy with the girls, and with instructions to stay 
in camp. The two men returned two hours later 
with a mess of trout sufficient to last the party 
several days. Stacy was asked to assist in clean¬ 
ing them, then the fish were broiled, and a deli¬ 
cious trout meal was enjoyed. Not since they 
started had they sat down to such dainty food. 

The Overland Riders were on the trail early 


212 


GRACE HARLOWE 


next morning. This trail eventually led them up 
the side of a mountain, over places where they 
were obliged to hitch ropes to the ponies to assist 
them over particularly troublesome spots, yet it 
was all great fun. 

As the party went on, game become more 
plentiful. Quail scuttled away at their approach, 
with heads ducked low, and here and there a 
flash of brown and white told of a frightened deer 
fleeing to safety. No one ventured a shot. The 
party had sufficient provisions for present needs, 
and further, it was understood that, unless abso¬ 
lutely necessary, there was to be no shooting. 
Tom, however, killed a rattler that lay coiled on 
a shelf of granite buzzing away like an alarm 
clock, but that was the only exciting incident of 
the morning’s ride. By noon they had worked 
their way up to an apparently impassable ridge. 
Tom went on ahead, soon returning with the 
welcome information that there appeared to be a 
break in the ridge about a mile to the south of 
them, and that he thought they could get through 
it. 

The Overlanders made camp late that after¬ 
noon, and on the following morning, now thor¬ 
oughly rested, they followed rough and rugged 
trails, surmounting difficulties almost as great as 
the worst they had met above timber line. Their 
reward came later in the morning when they dis- 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


213 


covered that they had unerringly followed the 
right course. 

“ There’s the lake! ” shouted Nora. 

Before them, framed in a rim of black forest 
and rock, lay a lake of the deepest emerald green 
they had ever gazed upon. About the shore, and 
extending down to the water, white pebbles 
formed a mat for the picture. 

“ It is our Aerial Lake,” declared Grace. “ It 
is the same lake that we saw several days ago and 
that we bombarded with rocks.” From some¬ 
where in that vicinity the shots that had dis¬ 
turbed them undoubtedly had been fired. It was 
quite a large body of water, just how large they 
could not see, on account of a sharp bend in the 
lake, and intervening mountains. 

“ Aren’t we going down to make camp now? ” 
asked Elfreda Briggs. 

“ Yes, for I’m just dying to know what the 
secret, the great dark secret, of Aerial Lake really 
is,” bubbled Emma. 

“ From all accounts it’s a homely woman,” 
laughed Nora. 

“ Oh, there are others,” reminded Stacy. 

“ That was not a nice thing to say, Stacy,” 
rebuked Grace, laughing in spite of her efforts to 
be stern. “ It was decidedly ungracious.” 

“ So are the kind I mean,” retorted Stacy. 
“ Hark! ” 


214 


GRACE HARLOWE 


A rifle shot echoed through the canyons, but, 
though ears were strained to catch the sound, no 
second shot was heard. 

“ I wonder at whom they are shooting this 
time? ” muttered Tom. “ We are again reminded 
that we are not the only persons in the High 
Sierras, so let us be cautious/’ 

“ Watch your step, ladies and gentlemen,” 
warned Stacy as the party started on. 

The Overlanders chose a camp site back among 
the trees a few rods from the shore of the lake. 
This site was not only well screened from observa¬ 
tion, but afforded an excellent view of the lake 
as far as the bend. Camp was quickly made, 
after which Stacy and Hippy shouldered their 
rifles and started out to get acquainted with their 
surroundings, as the party intended to remain at 
the lake for several days. The two had gone but 
a short distance from camp ere the Overlanders 
heard Chunky utter a shout. 

“ I’ve found an ark,” he cried, pointing trium¬ 
phantly to a dugout canoe that lay on the shore. 

The dugout had been hewn from a solid log 
and bore indications of recent use. Stacy 
searched for a paddle but could not find one. 
While the Overlanders, who had hurried out to 
him, were discussing Stacy’s find, Hippy was nos¬ 
ing about on the beach, closely observing the 
ground. He found boot tracks there, but they did 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


215 


not appear to have been recently made, so he de¬ 
cided that some days had elapsed since anyone 
had been on that particular spot. 

Stacy promptly forgot that he was out recon- 
noitering, and, cutting down a small tree with his 
hatchet, he proceeded to fashion a crude paddle 
from it. He then announced that he was going 
paddling. Tom said no, but Stacy said yes, 
whereupon Hippy read his nephew a sharp lecture 
on “ respect to one's elders." 

To all this, Stacy made no reply, as he consid¬ 
ered that he would gain nothing were he to protest 
too strenuously. 

“ That’s all," finished Hippy. 

“ Thanks, Uncle Hip. But if anything should 
happen to me, you’ll be sorry that you were so 
cruel." 

“ Oh, take your old dugout and go on," ex¬ 
claimed Hippy. “ If you drown, don’t blame me. 
If it were not that you are a good swimmer I 
shouldn’t trust you in that cranky craft." 

“ That is very kind of your Uncle Hippy," 
reminded Grace. “ I hope you appreciate it." 

Stacy failed to answer. Still tinkering with 
the paddle, he watched his companions out of the 
corner of one eye, as they walked slowly back 
towards their camp. Lieutenant Wingate, rifle 
in the crook of one arm, continued on. An hour 
and a half later, as Hippy was returning, he saw 


216 


GRACE HARLOWE 


his nephew paddling slowly down the lake. 
Hippy waved his hat and “ hoo-hooed,” to which 
Stacy paid no attention whatever. 

“ Better keep in close. The wind is coming 
up/’ called Lieutenant Wingate. 

Stacy Brown was still silent, and Hippy, chuck¬ 
ling to himself, went on to camp, where he told 
his companions of things he had discovered on his 
jaunt, none of which were of importance, except 
that he had found further evidence of the presence 
of human beings and horses. 

At luncheon time, Stacy was still absent, but 
his absence excited no comment, because the boy 
was very fond of the water and probably in his 
enjoyment of it he had forgotten all about the 
passage of time. But when it came four o’clock 
in the afternoon and still no Stacy, someone sug¬ 
gested that they go out and look for him. Hippy 
was the one who went. He soon came running 
back, waving his hat to attract the attention of 
his companions. 

“ Something has happened to Stacy!” he 
shouted. 

“ What is it — what has become of him?” 
called Tom Gray. 

“ Stacy’s dugout is floating bottomside up on 
the lake, but he is nowhere in sight,” answered 
Lieutenant Wingate. 

The Overlanders started at a run for the lake. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


217 


“ There it is! I see it,” cried Emma. 

“ Oh, Hippy, can’t you do something? ” begged 
Nora. “ What is that floating out there? ” 

“ It's a log,” answered Hippy. Despite the 
fact that the whitecaps were rolling up the lake, 
this log remained in one position all the time, but 
no one of the Overland party observed that fact. 

“ I can swim out to the canoe. ‘ Who knows 
but that Stacy may be under it? ” offered Grace. 

“ No, no,” protested the Overlanders in one 
voice. 

“ Grace, the water is icy cold. To swim out 
in that water would be the death of you. If 
anyone does it, either Hippy or myself will,” 
announced Tom. “ Is that a hat I see floating 
there? ” 

“ It’s Stacy’s hat,” cried Elfreda. “ Oh, this 
is too bad. Cannot something be done? ” 

“ There he goes! He will be drowned. Some¬ 
body stop him! ” begged Emma as Lieutenant 
Wingate plunged into the lake and began beating 
his way towards the overturned canoe. Hippy 
had not even paused to remove any part of his 
clothing. 

“Come back! ” shouted Grace shrilly. 

“ Come back! ” urged Tom. “ Even if he is 
there you can’t help him now.” 

“ Don’t worry. I am all right,” came back 
Lieutenant Wingate’s voice, sounding far away. 


218 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ Me savvy plenty cold watel,” piped Woo 
Smith, but no one gave heed to his words, and it 
is doubtful if any of the Overlanders even heard 
him. 

“ I don’t believe Stacy is drowned at all,” de¬ 
clared Emma. “ You will laugh at me, but I 
have a thought message that he isn’t.” 

“ This is no time for nonsense, my dear,” 
rebuked Elfreda. 

“ It isn’t nonsense, it’s transmigration,” pro¬ 
tested Emma. 

About this time they observed that Hippy was 
close to the dugout, and all eyes were fixed 
anxiously on him. They saw him grasp the 
turned-over boat, then dive under it. Hippy was 
out of sight but a few moments when his head 
was seen bobbing up on the opposite side of the 
dugout. 

The Overlanders shouted to him, but the wind 
was against them and Hippy did not even know 
that they were calling. 

“ Someone run to camp and fetch a bath towel, 0 
urged Grace. “ Never mind, I’ll go,” she added, 
starting away at a run for the camp. Grace was 
back ere Lieutenant Wingate reached the shore. 
Tom was there to meet him, and assisted Hippy, 
dripping, and blue of face and lips, to his feet. 

“ Here, Tom. Take the towel and give Hippy 
a brisk rub-down.” 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


219 


“ How — where? ” gasped Tom. 

“ Anywhere. Go out in the bushes, do it any¬ 
where, but for goodness sake don’t delay. What 
did you find ?” 

“ Nothing — not a single thing to indicate 
anything,” answered Lieutenant Wingate dully. 

“ Please hurry! Don’t you see that Hippy has 
a chill, Tom? ” 

Tom Gray hustled his companion out of sight, 
then stripped him and gave him a brisk rub- 
down, so brisk in fact that Hippy finally begged 
him to stop. 

“ I shan’t have any skin left if you go one ruB 
further,” he complained. 

“ Here is Hippy’s other suit,” called Nora. 
“How is he?” 

“ Skinned alive,” answered Hippy with a groan. 

Tom ran out and snatched up the suit, which 
he immediately assisted Hippy to put on. 

“ Are you still chilly? ” questioned Captain 
Gray after his companion had gotten fully into 
dry clothes. 

“ I should say not, after what you have done 
to me. I don’t care anything about my own con¬ 
dition. What I am half crazy about is Stacy. 
I don’t, for the life of me, understand how a fellow 
who can swim as well as he, could drown. Tom, 
help me out. What do you think I had better 
do?” 


220 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ Do? I think you have done enough — all 
that can be done. My advice is that we get back 
to camp. The girls have a good fire going, and 
my suggestion is that you sit by the fire and dry 
out your shoes while we decide what we should 
do next.” 

“ I don’t suppose there is need for hurry. If 
he is drowned he’s drowned, and that’s all there 
is about it, and if he isn’t, he isn’t. Yes, we will 
go back.” 

When Tom and Hippy emerged from Nature’s 
dressing room, Tom carrying his chum’s wet 
clothing, they found the Overland girls awaiting 
them a short distance away. Nora embraced 
Hippy and wept on his shoulder, and, as a matter 
of fact, the other three girls of the party had 
difficulty in keeping their own tears back. 

“ Oh, this is terrible! ” moaned Nora. 

Emma pulled herself together. 

“ I have a mental message that Stacy is all 
right, and that he will be back to-night,” com¬ 
forted Miss Dean. 

“ False hopes, I am afraid,” answered Tom. 

“ Woo, how deep is that lake? ” 

Woo consulted the skies. 

“ No savvy. Mebby fish can tell.” 

No more was said. It was a sober Overland 
party that slowly retraced its steps to the camp, 
but, as they stepped in among the trees and came 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


221 


in sight of the little camp, the Overlanders halted 
abruptly and gazed astounded. 

On a blanket that he had spread out sat Stacy 
Brown, his clothing wrinkled and dirty. Before 
him stood two cans of beans, open, and a plate 
of trout, while both cheeks protruded unnaturally 
as Stacy gazed soulfully at his companions. 


222 


GRACE HARLOWE 


CHAPTER XXIII 

THE LAIR OF THE BAD MEN 

I ULLOA, folks! ” greeted Stacy thickly. 
“ Stacy! ” cried Nora, running to 
him and throwing impulsive arms 
about the neck of her nephew. 

Lieutenant Wingate drew Nora away and stood 
gazing down sternly at the munching Chunky. 
No one said a word, except Woo Smith, who 
hummed his “ Hi-lee, hi-lo! ” 

“ Where have you been? ” finally demanded 
Hippy sternly. 

“I — I’ve been up there,” pointing to the side 
of the mountain, at the same time getting to his 
feet. 

“Sit down! Now out with it. The whole 
story, sir! ” 

“ I was mad with you. I — I — I thought it 
would be fun to fool you all. There wasn’t any¬ 
body in sight, so I tipped over and — ” 

“ Accidentally? ” interrupted Hippy. 

“ No. On purpose. Then I shoved the canoe 
out and threw my hat into the water, climbed up 




IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


223 


the side of the mountain and watched you all 
hunting for me,” chuckled Stacy. “ You all had 
been so hard on me that I didn’t care if never 
came back.” 

“ I don’t understand how you could stand it 
to stay away at meal time/’ wondered Emma. 

“ Oh, that was all right. I had some biscuit, 
then I found some dried venison in a cache in a 
cave up there. Somebody had been there. It 
was fine food, I tell you, but all the time I kept 
my eyes on the camp. I didn’t think you would 
go away and leave me, but I wasn’t taking 
chances. It was lots of fun watching you folks 
searching for Stacy Brown’s body, and I laughed 
when I saw Uncle Hip swimming out to look 
under the canoe. Say, you can swim some, can’t 
you? ” 

Hippy bristled. Stacy’s last words were the 
crowning ones. Lieutenant Wingate nodded to 
Tom. 

“ Come, Stacy. We wish you to go down by 
the lake with us. Fetch your paddle,” directed 
Hippy. 

“ Wha—at are you going to do? ” stammered 
the boy. 

“We three are going paddling, my beloved 
nephew,” answered Lieutenant Wingate. 

“ Don’t be too hard on him,” whispered Grace 
as the three were about to depart, Stacy going 


224 


GRACE HARLOWE 


reluctantly, but not daring to offer further 
objections. 

“ Give me that paddle/’ ordered Hippy when 
they had reached a point well out of sight of the 
camp. “ Stacy Brown, you have done about the 
most unforgivable thing that a boy could do. 
You led us to believe that you had been drowned; 
you have caused us much mental anguish, and it 
is no more than right that we ‘ transmigrate ’ a 
little of it to you. Lie down on your stomach! ” 

“ I don’t want to. Wha—at are you going 
to do? ” 

“ I am going to paddle you, young man. Tom, 
how many do you think would be about right? ” 

“ I should say that a paddle, one paddle, for 
each member of the Overland party would be 
about right,” suggested Tom Gray. “ There are 
six of us.” 

A moment more and Hippy Wingate was deliv¬ 
ering the punishment, not too hard, but just 
enough so as to make his plump nephew writhe. 

“Six! There!” announced Hippy. 

“ You forgot to give him one for Woo Smith,” 
suggested Tom. 

“ You’re right.” Hippy remedied the oversight 
at once. “ Get up! You made me swim in the 
cold lake, so I think I will give you a dose of the 
same medicine. I’m going to throw you in the 
lake.” 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


225 


“Oh, wow! ” howled Chunky. 

“No, no,” protested Tom Gray. “Don’t do 
that, Hippy. He might catch cold and be sick 
on our hands,” grinned Tom. 

“ I’ll be even with you for this, Uncle Hip,” 
threatened Stacy. 

“He hasn’t had enough yet, Tom. Help me 
throw him in.” 

“ Yes, I have. I’ve had enough. I’ll never 
play such a trick on you again. It was a low- 
down trick to play. Next time I’ll do it in some 
other way, but if you let me alone I’ll let you 
alone.” 

“ Don’t make threats,” warned Lieutenant 
Wingate. 

“ I can tell you something you want to know, 
too. I know something that you don’t know,” 
answered Stacy. 

“ First you had better come back to camp and 
apologize to the girls,” suggested Tom. 

Stacy went along, rather timidly at first; then, 
as the thought of what he had discovered occurred 
to him, he swelled out his chest and began to 
boast. 

“ Suppose you tell us what it is that you have 
discovered,” suggested Grace after Tom had re¬ 
peated to the girls what Stacy said. 

“Yes. I’ll tell you. When I was trying to 
get where you folks wouldn’t see me, I dodged 


15 - Grace Harlowe in the High Sierras 



226 


GRACE HARLOWE 


behind some bushes and discovered that I was 
right in front of an opening in the rocks. At 
first I thought it was a bear den. Then I 
stumbled against a big bear trap that closed with 
a crash, but it didn’t frighten me at all. You 
see I am not a bear.” 

Emma said there might be a difference of 
opinion on that subject. 

“ I lighted a match and found a lantern, just 
like the train conductors use. I looked about 
and found myself in a cave. I found a lot of 
stuff there, including some boxes of crackers and 
venison, that was cached to keep it away from 
the bears if they got past the trap.” 

The Overlanders were keenly interested. El- 
freda asked what else he had found in the cave. 

“ Mostly things to eat and to eat with. I didn’t 
bother about much of anything else. I reckon 
maybe it was the bad men’s cave that I discovered. 
When it comes to making discoveries I don’t sup¬ 
pose there is a human being who can equal 
myself. The only thing that I can’t lay claim to 
having discovered is Emma Dean.” 

“ That is because your ideals and your instincts 
lack elevation,” retorted Emma. 

Tom and Hippy glanced at each other and 
nodded. Both were of the same mind with refer¬ 
ence to Stacy’s discovery. Perhaps there lay the 
real secret of the Aerial Lake. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


227 


“ Let us go over and investigate/’ suggested 

Tom. 

“ I’m with you/’ agreed Hippy. “ Stacy, you 
will please lead the way to this bandit retreat, 
or whatever it may be, but if you fool us again, 
it’s the lake for yours.” 

All hands started for the cave, with Stacy 
Brown in the lead, full of importance. It was 
quite a rough climb to the scene of Stacy’s dis¬ 
covery, and the boy took the worst course he could 
find to reach it, which the others of the party 
suspected ere they had gone far on their way. 

“ Look out for bear traps! ” warned Chunky. 
“ You know I haven’t looked about much on the 
inside. There! Look at that, will you?” he 
demanded, parting the bushes and revealing a 
small dark opening in the rocks. 

“ You aren’t going into that hole, are you? ” 
cried Emma. 

“ I went in, didn’t I? ” returned Stacy. “ I 
didn’t have a crowd of women with me, though.” 

Hippy entered first, using his pocket lamp to 
light the way, followed by Stacy and Tom, then 
the others filed in, leaving Woo Smith on the out¬ 
side to see that they were not surprised by the 
former occupants of the place. 

Once inside, the Overlanders found that the 
roof of the cave was high enough to permit them 
to stand erect, but beyond them the darkness was 


228 


GRACE HARLOWE 


so deep that they could not see the end of the 
hole in the mountain. 

“Br-r-r! I’m afraid/’ cried Emma. 

“ That’s because you aren’t a man,” answered 
Stacy. “Hulloa! There’s some stuff that I 
didn’t see.” 

“ Pullman car blankets! ” exclaimed Tom Gray. 
“ This looks as if we had made a real discovery.” 

“ You mean I have,” corrected Stacy. 

“ Yes. It is plunder. No mistake about that,” 
agreed Lieutenant Wingate. “ Stacy, did you 
look around farther back in the cave? ” 

“ No. I didn’t have time.” 

“ I think you were afraid of the dark,” teased 
Elfreda. 

“ Stacy is afraid of nothing at all, you know, 
Elfreda,” reminded Grace laughingly, whereupon 
Stacy’s chest swelled perceptibly. 

“ I am not,” he made reply. 

A systematic search of all parts of the cave 
failed to reveal anything of great value, but they 
decided that it might be wise to remove some of 
the blankets as proof of what they had found. 

“ I know something else, too,” spoke up Stacy 
Brown. 

“ Well? ” demanded Hippy, eyeing Stacy 
suspiciously. 

“ The log is chained down.” 

“ What log? ” questioned Grace quickly. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


229 


“ That log out in the lake,” Stacy informed 
them. “ It’s funny that you folks haven’t no¬ 
ticed that it has been in the same position ever 
since we got here. There’s something queer about 
that log, too. I observed it the first time I walked 
along the shore, but it didn’t make much of an 
impression on me at the moment, and — ” 

“ I doubt if it would have done so if it had 
fallen on you,” interposed Emma. 

“ Thank you. One would hardly notice the log 
at all unless the lake were quite rough, which 
would enable you to see the full length of the log 
when it was in a trough. I examined the log 
when I was out in the canoe, and there’s some¬ 
thing else about it that is queer.” 

The Overlanders with one accord started for 
the shore to look at the log. 

“ It’s chained down,” shouted Stacy. 

“ I believe the boy is right,” exclaimed Elfreda 
Briggs. 

“ Where’s that dugout? ” called Hippy. 

“ I reckon it has gone around the bend,” an¬ 
swered Emma. 

“ No. The wind is in the wrong direction,” 
answered Tom. “I see it! There it is, at the 
upper end. It has drifted sideways to the beach.” 

“ I am going to have a look at that log,” cried 
Hippy, starting at a run for the dugout. Tom 
and his companions followed. 


230 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ Stacy, get the paddle/’ directed Tom. 

The fat boy obeyed without protest, which was 
rather unusual for him. 

“ Me savvy plenty piecee fun,” chattered Woo 
as they ran. 

“ If I am a prophet, you will be savvying some¬ 
thing besides fun before we have done with this 
affair,” observed Elfreda Briggs soberly. “ This 
is only the beginning.” 

Stacy arrived with the paddle about the time 
that Hippy and Tom reached the dugout. The 
two men turned the boat over and shoved it out. 

“ You girls remain on shore,” ordered Hippy. 
“ The boat will not hold more and give us room 
to work. Stacy, you sit still. Don’t you dare 
rock the boat.” 

The lake was still rough and Hippy found it 
hard work to handle the dugout, but after throw¬ 
ing off his coat and shifting his passengers to 
better balance the dugout, he made better head¬ 
way, finally reaching the bobbing log. 

“ Stacy is right. The log is anchored,” ex¬ 
claimed Tom. “ What can that mean? ” 

“We are going to find out right smart, Cap¬ 
tain,” answered Hippy. “Do you see? The 
thing is anchored with a chain about its middle, 
and from rings, bolted to the ends, ropes lead 
down into the lake. That must mean that some¬ 
thing is at the other end of the ropes. Tom, you 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


231 


ballast the other end of the dugout while Stacy 
and I pull on the rope at this end. We will try 
not to upset you. For myself, I have had one 
ducking to-day and that is quite sufficient. Stacy 
has one coming to him. All right, Chunky, heave 
away.” 

They hauled on the rope with all the strength 
they dared exert, for to pull with too strong a 
hand meant a ducking in the cold waters of the 
lake. 

Something came slowly to the surface. 

“ Oh, fudge! It’s an anchor — it is a piece of 
iron,” grumbled Stacy. 

“ Yes, but it isn’t an anchor,” answered Hippy 
excitedly. 

“ Boys, you have pulled up an iron box. Can 
you get it aboard? ” cried Tom. 

On the box, in yellow letters, was the name of 
a well-known express company. The box was 
securely locked, and apparently the lock had not 
been tampered with. 

“ We’ve made a find! ” cried Stacy. 

“ Loot of some sort,” agreed Tom. “ That is 
a money chest, probably of the same sort that the 
Bed Limited was carrying when the bandits 
attacked our train between Summit and Gardner. 
There is undoubtedly another one like it at my 
end of the log, but the question is what are we 
going to do with our find.” 


232 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ What are we going to do with it? Why, 
we’re going to open it, of course,” declared Stacy. 
“ If there is loot in it, findin’s is keepin’s so far 
as Stacy Brown is concerned.” 

Tom was of the opinion that they had no right 
to open the chest, but suggested that they take 
it and whatever else they might find, to a safe 
place and bury it, and then get word to the 
authorities. 

“ I believe you have the right thought,” nodded 
Hippy, after a moment’s reflection. “ There can 
be no doubt that this is stolen property, not the 
least doubt in the world. Therefore we are not 
taking another man’s property — we are trying 
to save stolen property. Come, Stacy, let’s give 
it another haul, then try to lift it aboard.” 

“ If I don’t get any of the plunder, I don’t 
haul,” objected Chunky stubbornly. 

“ Pull! If you don’t I’ll throw you overboard,” 
threatened Hippy savagely. 

“ I’ll drop it if you do. I’ll — ” 

A bullet snipped the water not a dozen yards 
from the dugout, followed by the report of a rifle. 

“You’re under fire! Look out! ” shouted the 
voice of Grace Harlowe, shrill and piercing. 

“ Let ’em shoot! ” retorted Hippy. “ Tom, are 
you game to go through with it? ” 

“ Yes.” 

“Bang, bang, bang!” Three bullets hit the 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


233 


water close at hand, sending up little spurts of 
white spray. Another bullet went through the 
top of Stacy Brown’s hat. 

“Wow!” howled Chunky. “You can get 
shot if you want to, but I don’t.” 

“ Buck up! ” urged Lieutenant Wingate. 
“ We’ll have the thing aboard in a moment.” 

Another bullet sang past them, clipping a sliver 
from the side of the dugout. The sliver hit Stacy 
on his bare arm and drew blood. 

“I’m hit! Good-night!” yelled Stacy, sud¬ 
denly letting go of the rope and diving head first 
into the lake. 

As Stacy let go of the rope and took his dive, 
the iron chest splashed and went to the bottom, 
causing the canoe to turn turtle. Lieutenant 
Wingate and Captain Gray were hurled into the 
icy waters of the Aerial Lake head first, with 
bullets spattering in the water all about them. 


234 


GRACE HARLOWE 


CHAPTER XXIV 

MAKING A LAST STAND 

^ poor fish!” roared Hippy as he 

|| came up sputtering. 

Stacy was making for the shore at 
full speed, creating considerable disturbance in 
the water as he progressed. Tom Gray and 
Hippy, concluding that safety first was the motto 
for them, were hitting up a rapid gait. The 
bullets, however, did not cease falling about 
them. All at once reports of other rifles, appar¬ 
ently fired close at hand, reached the ears of the 
swimmers. 

“ The girls are shooting! ” cried Tom. 

The Overland girls had run to camp for their 
rifles, and with them were trying to search out 
the hidden mountain marksmen, trusting to drive 
the mountaineers off, or at least to check their 
fire until their three companions could reach 
shore. 

Hippy and Tom -were swimming for the shore 
in the direction of the mountain cave. Observing 
this, the Overland girls ran forward to meet them. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 235 

“ Hurry! Oh, hurry! ” shouted Nora in great 
distress. 

“ They can’t reach us with their bullets now,” 
answered Hippy. “ We are protected by the 
overhang of the mountain on their side.” 

“ Hippy is right. They have stopped shooting,” 
announced Grace. 

At this juncture Stacy Brown floundered ashore 
and ran dripping towards the cave. 

“Here, here! Where are you going?” called 
Elfreda. 

“ Into my bomb-proof shelter; that’s where I’m 
going,” flung back Stacy. 

“You had better hide,” reminded Elfreda. 

“ Where’s that boy? ” cried Hippy as he, too, 
floundered ashore. 

“ Never mind Stacy now. We have other and 
more important matters on hand,” answered 
Grace. “ Hurry, Tom. I have sent Woo up 
among the rocks to act as lookout while we con¬ 
sider what to do next.” 

“ This is a fine mess. Here I am drenched to 
the skin, shivering like a man with the ague, and 
a band of scoundrels trying to shoot me up. 
Hospitable country, I must say,” complained Tom 
Gray. 

“ It might be worse. You and Hippy had 
better go into the cave and change your clothes,” 
suggested Grace. 


236 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ Change to what? ” 

“ That’s so. It might be imprudent for any 
of us to go to camp for fresh clothing.” 

“ Come, girls, let’s gather wood and build a 
fire,” urged Miss Briggs. "We can build a small 
fire in the cave and let our men dry out in there 
and we will stand guard on the outside.” 

“ Good! That is real headwork,” agreed Tom. 
“ Give me a handful of sticks and I’ll start a fire 
if you will provide the matches. Mine are 
soaked.” 

Hippy had already started in search of Stacy 
Brown, but Stacy was not in sight. He had fled 
to the farther end of the cave, whence he was 
gazing apprehensively towards the opening. 

“ You may come out/’ offered Hippy. “ I’m 
too wet to have my interview with you now. 
When I get dried out I’ll have a friendly conver¬ 
sation with you. Come out! ” 

Stacy sidled out, watching Uncle Hip narrowly. 
Tom came in at this juncture, with an armful of 
twigs that the girls had gathered, and started a 
small fire. 

“ I don’t want to be smoked out,” complained 
Stacy. 

“ There is worse than that coming to you, 
young man,” reminded Tom. “ At present, how¬ 
ever, we have other things to attend to. Strip 
and dry out.” 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


237 


“ I don’t want to dry out. I want to be 
soaked,” retorted Stacy. 

“ Don’t worry. You’re going to be,” warned 
Lieutenant Wingate. 

“ If it hadn’t been for me you folks never would 
have discovered anything,” Stacy declared, turn¬ 
ing a reproachful gaze on his two companions. 

“ And if it hadn’t been for you I should not 
have been dumped into a lake of ice water twice 
in one day,” returned Hippy. “ Tom, what is 
your idea of this shooting? ” 

“ We have interfered with someone’s business, 
that’s plain,” replied Tom. “ When we hauled 
up that box of plunder, or whatever it may be, 
they let go at us with their rifles. Nor is that 
the worst of it — we are in for more trouble, and 
I should not be at all surprised to see it break at 
any moment, I — ” 

“ Tom! ” cried Grace Harlowe with a rising 
inflection in her voice. 

“ Yes? ” 

“ Woo is running towards the cave, waving his 
arms. I think he has discovered something.” 

Hippy nodded at Tom and began drawing on 
his wet clothing. 

“ May the girls go inside now? ” called Grace. 

“No! Keep out! We will be ready in a 
moment,” answered Hippy. 

A shot, followed by a howl from Woo Smith, 


238 


GRACE HARLOWE 


caused the two men to redouble their efforts. 
Hippy finished dressing first and ran out, rifle in 
hand, just as the guide came running up. 

“ Ale savvy tlouble. Plenty men come ’long.” 

“ How many? ” interjected Tom. 

“ Sees.” 

“ Six, eh? We ought to be able to handle 
them,” answered Hippy. 

“ There probably are more than six. What 
shall we do? ” questioned Grace. 

“ All hands get inside the cave. From there 
we can watch the lake, and at the same time be 
fairly well protected,” directed Hippy. 

Acting upon a hail from Tom that he was ready, 
the Overlanders hastened into the cave, where 
Woo was questioned in detail as to what he had 
observed. Having obtained all the information 
that the guide had to give, Hippy and Tom 
crept out, and lay secreted in the bushes in front 
of the cave to guard against surprises. 

They had been there but a short time when 
Lieutenant Wingate discovered a man on the 
rocks about a hundred yards to the right of them. 
At almost the same instant Tom Gray nudged his 
companion. 

“ Two men are over in our camp,” he whispered. 

“ Don’t shoot. Time enough for that. They 
don’t know where we are. They — ” Hippy 
paused abruptly. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


239 


“ They don’t, eh? ” jeered Tom Gray as a bullet 
flattened itself on the rocks just above the open¬ 
ing into the cave. “ Keep down in there! ” 

“ I think they are merely trying to smoke us 
out,” answered Hippy calmly. 

A scattering volley of bullets was fired at the 
cave opening as he spoke, but there was no re¬ 
sponse from the besieged Overland Riders. El- 
freda called softly to know if the two men needed 
assistance, but both said all the assistance they 
needed just then was to be let alone. 

“ There go the ponies! ” exclaimed Tom Gray. 

When Hippy looked he saw three men leading 
the Overland saddle ponies into a defile in the 
mountains. Hippy threw up his rifle, but lowered 
it instantly. 

“ It won’t do any good to shoot. Then again 
I might hit a pony. What I want to do is to get 
a man. Sh-h-h-h! ” 

The man that Hippy had seen, but who had 
disappeared immediately afterward, he now dis¬ 
covered lying on a slab of rock up high enough 
to give him a fairly good view of the entrance to 
the cave. 

“ I see him. Don’t move. He is looking this 
way,” whispered Lieutenant Wingate. 

After a few moments of cautious observation, 
the man on the rock crawled back and dis¬ 
appeared. 


240 


GRACE HARLOWE 


The day was rapidly drawing to a close and 
the two Overland men began to feel considerable 
concern. There was little hope in their minds 
that they were going to get out of their present 
situation that night. Tom and Hippy discussed 
the situation, and considered the idea of creeping 
away in the night, but finally concluded that their 
greatest safety lay in keeping out of sight and 
awaiting developments. 

“ It is their move first,” declared Tom. “ And 
when they do start something we shall be on the 
job, though I am a little concerned about our 
ammunition. We have none to waste. It seems 
to me that there ought to be some in that cave, if 
the scoundrels are half as prudent as we think 
they are.” 

Hippy called softly to Nora, asking her to have 
a thorough search of the cave made to see if 
ammunition might not be found. Half an hour 
later Nora reported that they could find none. 

“ Then we shall have to get along with what 
we have,” decided Tom Gray. “ With what we 
have we ought to be able to give a pretty fair 
account of ourselves.” 

Night fell, with the lake and the mountain¬ 
sides bathed in a flood of moonlight, for the moon 
was full and well up. The fire in the cave had 
long since been put out so that the besiegers 
might not smell the smoke, and, shortly after 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


241 


dark, the girls passed out a luncheon, taken from 
the stores of food that Stacy Brown had dis¬ 
covered on his first visit to the cave. Tom and 
Hippy were munching this eagerly, when Tom 
uttered a suppressed exclamation. 

“ Look yonder! ” he whispered. 

“It’s the dugout! ” breathed Hippy. 

The dugout, with three men in it, was being 
rapidly paddled out into the lake, which was now 
quiet, a gleaming sheet of silver in the bright 
moonlight. The paddlers went straight to the 
log and began hauling up on the rope at one end. 

“ They are after the chests. What would you 
advise, Tom? ” asked Hippy eagerly. 

“ We are going to shoot, that’s what,” answered 
Tom Gray, leveling his rifle. “ I don’t want to 
hit anyone, but I do want to give them a scare.” 
Taking careful aim at the canoe, he fired — and 
missed. Tom shot again, and this time his bullet 
reached its mark — the dugout. 

Hippy Wingate tried a shot and scored a hit 
the first time. The men in the dugout showed 
indications of panic. 

“ Let ’em have it hard,” urged Tom, whereupon 
both men began shooting, but the shooting was 
not confined to their own rifles. From somewhere 
on the mountain-side other rifles spoke, and 
bullets spattered against the rocks that stood out 
white in the moonlight, hard by the cave. 


16 - Grace Harlowe in the High Sierras 



242 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ They’ve located us!” cried Tom Gray. 
“ Stacy, come out here, but creep out,” he ordered. 

The fat boy came wriggling out, rifle in hand. 

“ See if you can find the fellows who are shoot¬ 
ing at us; then stir them up,” directed Tom. 

A few moments later, Chunky’s rifle spoke. In 
the meantime Tom and Hippy had been shooting 
at the boat, taking their time, aiming with 
deliberation, until finally the fire became too hot 
for the men in the dugout, and they paddled 
rapidly shoreward to the other side of the lake. 
Soon after their arrival there they began to shoot 
at the cave-mouth. Hippy and Tom then turned 
their rifles in that direction, but with what result 
they were unable to determine. 

Stacy shot slowly and steadily, without appar¬ 
ent nervousness, and the two men began to feel 
respect for the irrepressible Chunky. After a 
time the fire on both sides died down and silence 
settled over the scene. Finally, Grace suggested 
that she and Elfreda relieve the men of their 
watch, which, after reflection, was agreed to. 
After a vigil of some hours Grace called for Tom 
and pointed towards the lake, that w T as shining 
in the moonlight. 

“ Is not something moving out there? ” she 
questioned. 

“Yes. It is those scoundrels after the chests 
again. Call Hippy! ” 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


243 


After watching the shadowy shape of the dug- 
out for some moments the two Overland men 
again opened fire, and once more the dugout was 
hurriedly paddled ashore. 

No further disturbance occurred that night. 
The girls went to sleep, but Lieutenant Wingate 
and Captain Gray remained on duty from that 
time on. All of the following day was spent in 
the cave, not a shot being fired on either side. 
The Overlanders were of the opinion that their 
adversaries were keeping out of sight for the pur¬ 
pose of luring the party out into the open, so 
they remained where they were. 

Another night came on, and at about ten o’clock 
the Overland Riders were treated to a deluge of 
rifle bullets, which was not returned, as the 
ammunition supply was now too low. 

“ Grace, have you taken an inventory of the 
food? ” asked Tom, after the firing had died down. 

“ Yes. We have enough for present needs, but 
have you considered that we may be held here 
until either we starve or are shot? I, for one, 
am in favor of making our escape. Take my word 
for it, our besiegers will play some trick that will 
prove our undoing,” declared Grace with strong 
conviction in her tone. 

“ We will stick it out another day,” answered 
Lieutenant Wingate. 

“ And walk all the way back to Gardner,” fin- 


244 


GRACE HARLOWE 


ished Elfreda Briggs. “ I am of the opinion 
that — ” 

“ Hark! ” warned Nora, holding up a hand for 
silence. A faint tapping sound was heard by all. 
It seemed to be somewhere over their heads, but 
no one was able to interpret the sound, and after 
a time it ceased. 

“ Something is doing. Get your rifles ready,” 
ordered Tom. 

The words had no sooner left his lips than a 
heavy detonating explosion sent a shower of rock 
and dirt down over their heads. None of the 
pieces was large enough to injure the Overlanders, 
but the dust set them coughing and choking so 
that instinctively all crowded towards the cave 
entrance for air, and further, because of fear that 
the rocks above might cave in on them. 

“ That was dynamite! ” exclaimed Tom Gray. 
“ Either they are trying to bury us here or to 
drive us out.” 

“ And I am going out,” declared Lieutenant 
Wingate. “ Tom, you stay here, but for good¬ 
ness sake make the folks keep down. The first 
head I see I am going to shoot at. Give me some 
cartridges, each of you.” 

Five minutes later Lieutenant Wingate was 
crawling out on his stomach as silently as an 
Indian. Once more he heard that familiar tap¬ 
ping on the rocks above the cave. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


245 


“ The fiends! ” he muttered. “ Eve got to get 
up to their level or go above them.” He decided 
to proceed to the left of the cave, then ascend 
and approach the rocks above it. This he suc¬ 
ceeded in doing. About the time he came within 
sight of the rocks over the cave the ground was 
shaken by another explosion. In the bright 
moonlight, he saw three men running towards the 
scene. 

Hippy threw up his rifle and fired. One of the 
three men plunged forward and rolled over the 
edge of the rocks, landing, as Lieutenant Wingate 
thought, near the entrance to the cave. The 
other two men instantly disappeared. 

“ One! ” growled the Overland Rider, hurriedly 
removing himself from that particular locality. 
Reaching a point where he could look across the 
cave entrance, Hippy made a startling discovery. 
The second charge of dynamite had been fired 
close to the edge of the rocks overhanging the 
cave entrance, so that the falling rocks had 
blocked it entirely. Lieutenant Wingate now 
crawled to the entrance, not knowing what instant 
he might be the target for a bullet, and, placing 
his lips close to a crevice, called softly. 

His hail was answered from within. To his 
great relief, he learned that none of his com¬ 
panions had been injured, but that they dared 
not try to remove the wreckage from the inside 


246 


GRACE HARLOWE 


fearing they might bring down a mass of rocks. 
Hippy advised them to remain quiet until later 
when he would try to w r ork his way in. 

“ Just now, I must keep a sharp lookout,” he 
added. Not another shot did he get at their ad¬ 
versaries, however, but just after daylight a rat¬ 
tling fire sprang up. Listening attentively, Hippy 
concluded that two parties were engaged in the 
shooting — at it “ hammer and tongs,” as he 
expressed it. A few minutes later he saw tw T o 
men running for the lake — saw them leap into 
the dugout and paddle excitedly towards the 
anchored log. He waited until they began to haul 
in on the rope at one end of the log, and then 
opened fire. One bullet bowled a man over. The 
other man grabbed the paddle and struck out for 
the shore with all speed. He had nearly reached 
it when a burst of fire from among the trees near 
where the Overland camp was located knocked 
the man over. He fell over backwards in the 
dugout, which slowly drifted ashore. 

A group of horsemen at this juncture rode out 
into the open, and an instant later a bullet 
whistled past Hippy’s head. 

“Gee whiz!” exclaimed Lieutenant Wingate. 
“ I reckon the whole community has it in for me. 
I’ve got to have a look at those people.” With 
that Hippy worked his way cautiously through 
the bushes until he got an unobstructed view of 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


247 


the newcomers. The Overland Rider gazed, and 
as he did so his under jaw sagged. 

“ ^ e-o-o-o-w! ” yelled Hippy, leaping to his 
feet. 

A rifle bullet answered him, but he was down 
ere it reached him. Once more he sprang up and 
fired three quick shots straight up into the air, 
then went down again. This time there was an 
interval, then the welcome answer — three signal 
shots — was fired. Hippy got up and waved his 
hat. He had recognized one member of that 
party. That member was Sheriff Ford. 

“ Overland!” shouted Lieutenant Wingate 
upon getting to his feet. 

Sheriff Ford did not recognize him at once, but 
the party of horsemen rode towards him with 
rifles at ready, Hippy standing out in the open 
with hands held up. Sheriff Ford then uttered 
a shout as he recognized the Overland Rider. 

It was a happy meeting — for Hippy Wingate. 
It took but a moment for explanations. A posse, 
with two sheriffs, including Ford, and five husky 
citizens of Gardner, had come out in search of the 
bandits who had tried to rob the Red Limited, 
and who were supposed to have held up and 
robbed another treasure train a week earlier. 

On their way to release the Overland party, 
Hippy confided to Sheriff Ford the discovery of 
the iron chests secured to the log in the lake. 


248 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ I suppose there is a reward for the recovery 
of the plunder, but if there is, you take it. We 
don’t want it,” said Hippy. 

Sheriff Ford protested, but Hippy said the 
Overland-Riders could not consider accepting a 
reward under any circumstances. Ford said that 
in such event the reward would be shared by the 
members of the posse, and that, in fact, the re¬ 
ward offered by the express company was the 
principal motive for the posse coming out to try 
to accomplish what the Pinkertons had thus far 
failed to do. 

The Overlanders were, after considerable hard 
work, released from their imprisonment in the 
cave, and it was then that Ford told them of the 
fight with the bandits, who, he said, were all 
members of the Jones Boys’ gang. Of ten ban¬ 
dits, the posse had killed or wounded four. They 
found two who had been wounded before the ar¬ 
rival of the posse, one of whom, Hippy believed, 
was the fellow he had shot on the shelf of rock, 
and took four prisoners, including Mother Jones, 
the mother of the leaders of the gang. Four 
bandits had succeeded in escaping. 

“ Mother Jones! ” exclaimed the Overlanders. 

As it later developed, it was Mother Jones 
whose face had so frightened Woo, and which 
Grace Harlowe had seen reflected in the pool. 
Mother Jones had done the shooting at the Over- 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


249 


landers, following the Overland party's discovery 
of the chests in the lake. It was Mother Jones 
who had fired at them when they were bombard¬ 
ing the lake with boulders. 

No time was lost in getting the chests from the 
bottom of the lake, and none was more interested 
in the contents than were the original discoverers, 
the Overland Riders. The chests were found to 
contain something more than half a million 
dollars in gold and banknotes, but two other 
chests stolen from the same shipment never were 
found, though the lake was dragged from end to 
end. It was believed that the contents of the 
missing chests had been divided among the ban¬ 
dits and secreted somewhere in the mountains, but 
not a man of the Jones gang would admit this to 
be the fact. 

The Overland ponies were found secreted in a 
mountain defile, and that night there was a jolli¬ 
fication in camp, a real feast of venison and trout, 
songs and story-telling, even Woo Smith indulg¬ 
ing in his familiar song, to which no one now 
objected. Stacy Brown overlooked no oppor¬ 
tunity to call attention to the fact that he was 
the one who had discovered the treasure chests, 
discovered the log to which they were anchored, 
and said he supposed that the railroad or the 
express company owed him a hundred thousand 
dollars. 


250 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ How much do you want? Come now,” urged 
Sheriff Ford. 

“ Want? ” exclaimed Stacy. “ I don’t want 
anything from you, but I want these unfortunate 
Overland Riders to appreciate what I have done 
for them, and I want them to apologize to me for 
the abuse they heaped on me while I was seeking 
to transmigrate trouble from their doors.” 

Sheriff Ford laughed heartily at Stacy’s 
remarks. 

“ For he’s a jolly good fellow,” began Nora 
Wingate, in which the Overland Riders joined 
whole-heartedly, even Emma Dean, for the mo¬ 
ment, forgetting her feud with Stacy Brown to 
the extent of keeping time with her lips, Woo 
Smith independently chattering his “ Hi-lee, hi- 
lo! ” shouts of laughter winding up the tribute 
to the fat boy’s hold on their affections. 

The Overland Riders decided to accompany the 
sheriffs and their party to Gardner. Being well 
satisfied with their vacation they were now ready 
to go home. The prisoners and the treasure were 
taken along to Gardner, which was reached several 
days later. Then the Riders entrained for home 
after the most interesting journey they had ever 
taken. On their way east they elected the irre¬ 
pressible Chunky to full membership in the Over¬ 
land Riders, and he promised to accompany them 
on their next season’s ride. 


IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 


251 


The story of that ride will be found in a follow¬ 
ing volume entitled, “ Grace Harlowe’s Over¬ 
land Riders in the Yellowstone National 
Park.” The mysterious loss of the Riders’ 
ponies, the raid of the grizzlies, the puzzling rob¬ 
bery at the Springs Hotel, a night of terror on 
Electric Mountain, the hold-up of the Cumber¬ 
land coach, and the solving of the Yellowstone 
mystery, are among the many experiences that 
befell Grace Harlowe’s Riders on their never-to- 
be-forgotten journey through the great National 
Park. 


THE END 




















































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In this splendid series the great American steel industry is exploited by 
a master pen. The author put in much time studying conditions at the 
iron mines, on the transportation routes and at the big steel mills. He has 
made of these volumes a series of romances with scenes laid in the iron and 
steel world. Each book presents a vivid picture of some phase of this 
great industry. The information given is exact and truthful; above all, 
each story is full of adventure and fascination. The steel industry today 
offers a splendid field for the efforts of really bright American youths. 
There are great possibilities of careers in this line of work; the brightest 
who enter may in time win some of the highest incomes paid in this coun¬ 
try. And the work is full of fascination throughout. 

1. THE IRON BOYS IN THE MINES; or, Starting at the Bottom of 

the Shaft. 

2. THE IRON BOYS AS FOREMEN; or, Heading the Diamond Drill 

Shift. 

3. THE IRON BOYS ON THE ORE BOATS; or, Roughing It on the 

Grcst Lskcs 

4. THE IRON BOYS IN THE STEEL MILLS; or, Beginning Anew in 

the Cinder Pits. 


'tte RAN G E 
AND GRANGE 
HUSTLERS ON 
THE RANCH 

FRANK G • PAICK W 



Umu Ai» 
t>t *<Ci> 















THE CIRCUS BOYS SERIES 

By EDGAR B. P. DARLINGTON 

PRICE, $1.00 EACH 

No call to the heart of the youth of 
America finds a readier response than the 
call of the billowing canvas, the big red 
wagons, the crash of the circus band and 
the trill of the ringmaster’s whistle. It 
is a call that captures the imagination of 
old and young alike, and so do the books 
of this series capture and enthrall the 
reader, for they were written by one who, 
besides wielding a master pen, has fol¬ 
lowed the sawdust trail from coast to 
coast, who knows the circus people and 
the sturdy manliness of those who do 
and dare for the entertainment of mil¬ 
lions of circus-goers when the grass is 
green. Mr. Darlington paints a true picture of the circus life. 

1. THE CIRCUS BOYS ON THE FLYING RINGS; or, Making the 

Start in the Sawdust Life. 

2. THE CIRCUS BOYS ACROSS THE CONTINENT; or, Winning 

New Laurels on the Tanbark. 

3. THE CIRCUS BOYS IN DIXIE LAND; or, Winning the Plaudits of 

the Sunny South. 

4. THE CIRCUS BOYS ON THE MISSISSIPPI; or, Afloat with the 

Big Show on the Big River. 

5. THE CIRCUS BOYS ON THE PLAINS; or, The Young Advance 

Agents Ahead of the Show. 


BOOKS FOR GIRLS 

THE MADGE MORTON SERIES 

By AMY D. V. CHALMERS 

PRICE, $1.00 EACH 

The heroines of these stories are four girls, who with en¬ 
thusiasm for outdoor life, transformed a dilapidated canal 
boat into a pretty floating summer home. They christened 
the craft “The Merry Maid” and launched it on the shore of 
Chesapeake Bay. The stories are full of fun and adventure, 
with not a dull moment anywhere. 

1. MADGE MORTON—CAPTAIN OF THE MERRY MAID. 

2. MADGE MORTON’S SECRET. 

3. MADGE MORTON’S TRUST. 

4. MADGE MORTON’S VICTORY. 

















THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS SERIES 

By JANET ALDRIDGE 

PRICE, $1.00 EACH 

Four clever girls go hiking around 
the country and meet with many thril¬ 
ling and provoking adventures. These 
stories pulsate with the atmosphere of 
outdoor life. 

1. THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS UNDER 
CANVAS; or, Fvm and Frolic in the Sum¬ 
mer Camp. 

2. THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS ACROSS 
COUNTRY; or, The Young Pathfinders 
on a Summer Hike. 

3. THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS AFLOAT; 
or, The Stormy Cruise of the Red Rover. 

4. THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS IN THE HILLS; or. The Missing 

Pilot of the White Mountains. 

5. THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS BY THE SEA; or, The Loss of the 

Lonesome Bar. 

6. THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS ON THE TENNIS COURTS; or. 

Winning Out in the Big Tournament. 

THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS SERIES 

By LAURA DENT CRANE 

PRICE, $1.00 EACH 

Girls as well as boys love wholesome adventure, a wealth 
of which is found in many forms and in many scenes in the 
volumes of this series. 

1. THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT NEWPORT; or, Watching the Sum¬ 

mer Parade. 

2. THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS IN THE BERKSHIRES; or. The 

Ghost of Lost Man’s Trail. 

3. THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS ALONG THE HUDSON; or, Fighting 

Fire in Sleepy Hollow. 

4. THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT CHICAGO; or, Winning Out 

Against Heavy Odds. 

5. THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT PALM BEACH; or. Proving Their 

Mettle Under Southern Skies. 

6. THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT WASHINGTON; or, Checkmating 

the Plots of Foreign Spies. 



The 

Meadow-Brook 
Girls 

Under Canvas 

Janet Ald ri d^ e 













THE HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS SERIES 


By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A. M. 


PRICE, $1.00 EACH 


The scenes, episodes, and adventures 
through which Grace Harlowe and her 
intimate chums pass in the course of 
these stories are pictured with a vivacity 
that at once takes the young feminine 
captive. 

1. GRACE HARLOWE’S PLEBE YEAR AT 

HIGH SCHOOL; or, The Merry Doings of 
the Oakdale Freshmen Girls. 

2. GRACE HARLOWE’S SOPHOMORE YEAR 

AT HIGH SCHOOL; or. The Record of the 
Girl Chums in Work and Athletics. 



3. GRACE HARLOWE’S JUNIOR YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; or, 
Fast Friends in the Sororities. 


4 . GRACE HARLOWE’S SENIOR YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; or, 
The Parting of the Ways. 


THE COLLEGE GIRLS SERIES 

By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A. M. 

PRICE, $1.00 EACH 

Every school and college girl will recognize that the ac¬ 
count of Grace Harlowe’s experiences at Overton College is 
true to life. 

1. GRACE HARLOWE’S FIRST YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE. 

2. GRACE HARLOWE’S SECOND YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE. 

3. GRACE HARLOWE’S THIRD YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE. 

4 . GRACE HARLOWE’S FOURTH YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE. 

5. GRACE HARLOWE’S RETURN TO OVERTON CAMPUS. 

6. GRACE HARLOWE’S PROBLEM. 

7. GRACE HARLOWE’S GOLDEN SUMMER. 
















THE GRACE HARLOWE OVERSEAS 

SERIES 

By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A. M. 

PRICE, $1.00 EACH 

Grace Harlowe went with the Over- 
ton College Red Cross Unit to France, 
there to serve her country by aiding the 
American fighting forces. These books 
will interest every girl reader because 
they describe the great war from a girl’s 
point of view. 

1. GRACE HARLOWE OVERSEAS. 

2. GRACE HARLOWE WITH THE RED 
CROSS IN FRANCE. 

3. GRACE HARLOWE WITH THE MA¬ 
RINES AT CHATEAU THIERRY. 

4. GRACE HARLOWE WITH THE U. S. 
TROOPS IN THE ARGONNE. 

5. GRACE HARLOWE WITH THE YANKEE 
SHOCK BOYS AT ST. QUENTIN. 

6. GRACE HARLOWE WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY ON THE 
RHINE. 

THE GRACE HARLOWE OVERLAND 

RIDERS SERIES 

By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A. M. 

PRICE, $1.00 EACH 

Grace Harlowe and her friends of the Overton College Unit 
seek adventure on the mountain trails and in the wilder sec¬ 
tions of their homeland, after their return from service in 
France. These are stories of real girls for real girls. 

1. GRACE HARLOWE’S OVERLAND RIDERS ON THE OLD 

APACHE TRAIL. 

2. GRACE HARLOWE’S OVERLAND RIDERS ON THE GREAT 

AMERICAN DESERT. 

3. GRACE HARLOWE’S OVERLAND RIDERS AMONG THE KEN¬ 

TUCKY MOUNTAINEERS. 

4. GRACE HARLOWE’S OVERLAND RIDERS IN THE GREAT 

NORTH WOODS. 























WEE BOOKS FOR WEE FOLKS 


^ For little hands to fondle and for mother to read aloud. 
Every ounce of them will give a ton of joy. 

WEE BOOKS FOR WEE FOLKS SERIES 

1. MOTHER GOOSE NURSERY TALES. 

2. MOTHER GOOSE NURSERY RHYMES. 

3. A CHILD’S GARDEN OF VERSES. Robert 

Louis Stevenson. 

4. THE FOOLISH FOX. 

5. THREE LITTLE PIGS. 

6. THE ROBBER KITTEN. 

7. LITTLE BLACK SAMBO. 

8. THE LITTLE SMALL RED HEN. 

9. THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS. 

10. THE LITTLE WISE CHICKEN THAT 

KNEW IT ALL. 

11. PIFFLE’S ABC BOOK OF FUNNY ANIMALS. 

12. THE FOUR LITTLE PIGS THAT DIDN’T HAVE ANY MOTHER. 

13. THE LITTLE PUPPY THAT WANTED TO KNOW TOO MUCH. 

14. THE COCK, THE MOUSE AND THE LITTLE RED HEN. 

15. GRUNTY GRUNTS AND SMILEY SMILE—INDOORS. 

16. GRUNTY GRUNTS AND SMILEY SMILE—OUTDOORS. 



WEE FOLKS BIBLE STORIES SERIES 

1. WEE FOLKS STORIES FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT. In 

Words of One Syllable. 

2. WEE FOLKS STORIES FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT. In 

Words of One Syllable. 

3. WEE FOLKS LIFE OF CHRIST. 

4. WEE FOLKS BIBLE ABC BOOK. 

5. LITTLE PRAYERS FOR LITTLE LIPS. 

THE WISH FAIRY SERIES 

1. THE LONG AGO YEARS STORIES. 

2. THE WISH FAIRY OF THE SUNSHINE AND SHADOW 

FOREST. 

3. THE WISH FAIRY AND DEWY DEAR. 

4. THE MUD WUMPS OF THE SUNSHINE AND SHADOW 

FOREST. 

PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED IN COLORS. 


PRICE, 50c. EACH 




















WEE FOLKS PETER RABBIT SERIES 


1. THE TALE OF PETER RABBIT. 

2. HOW PETER RABBIT WENT TO SEA. 

3. PETER RABBIT AT THE FARM. 

4. PETER RABBIT’S CHRISTMAS. 

5. PETER RABBIT’S EASTER. 

6. WHEN PETER RABBIT WENT TO 
SCHOOL. 

7. PETER RABBIT’S BIRTHDAY. 

8. PETER RABBIT GOES A-VISITING. 

9. PETER RABBIT AND JACK-THE-JUMPER. 

10. PETER RABBIT, JACK-THE-JUMPER, AND THE LITTLE BOY. 

WEE FOLKS CINDERELLA SERIES 

Rhymed and Retold by Kenneth Graham Duffield 

1. THE WONDERFUL STORY OF CINDERELLA. 

2. THE STORY OF LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD. 

3. THE OLDTIME STORY OF THE THREE BEARS. 

4. THE OLD, OLD STORY OF POOR COCK ROBIN. 

5. CHICKEN LITTLE. 

6. PUSS IN BOOTS. 

7. THREE LITTLE KITTENS THAT LOST THEIR MITTENS. 

8. JACK THE GIANT KILLER. 

LITTLE BUNNIE BUNNIEKIN SERIES 

1. LITTLE BUNNIE BUNNIEKIN. 

2. LITTLE LAMBIE LAMBKIN. 

3. LITTLE MOUSIE MOUSIEKIN. 

4. LITTLE DEARIE DEER. 

5. LITTLE SQUIRRELIE SQUIRRELIEKIN. 

6. OLD RED REYNARD THE FOX. 

PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED IN COLORS. 




PETEK RABBIT 

.“X AT THE 



PRICE, 50c. EACH 



























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